Ice Hockey Edged by Plymouth, 3-2

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Plymouth State junior Ethan Stuckless (Conception Bay, South Newfoundland) buried the go-ahead power play goal 2:43 into the third period as Westfield State dropped a 3-2 decision to the Panthers in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from Hanaway Rink in Plymouth, N.H.

The Panthers snap the Owls four-game winning streak, improving to 10-1-2 on the season and 7-0-2 in the MASCAC. Westfield falls to 8-4-1 overall and 5-3-1 in league action.

The Owls scored the opening goal of the game in the closing seconds of the first period with Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) setting up Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) for his fourth goal of the season to give Westfield a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

Plymouth quickly found the equalizer just ten seconds into the second period off the stick of Will Pray (Wheaton, Ill.) for his fifth tally of the season to even the score at one goal apiece.

A little over two minutes after the Plymouth score, Westfield regained the lead, capitalizing off of a Panthers' turnover in the Owls attacking zone allowing for Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.) to find Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) for his team-leading tenth goal of the season.

Momentum swung in the Panthers favor as the game moved over the halfway point of the second frame. The Panthers killed a power play opportunity for Westfield which included strong goaltending from Kalle Anderson (Taby, Sweden) who made three consecutive saves as part of a flurry of scoring opportunities by the Owls. Six seconds after the game got back to even strength for both sides, Rider McCallum (Langley, British Columbia) netted the game-tying goal to make it a 2-2 contest with 5:54 left in the period.

The Panthers had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the closing seconds of the period, but Owls netminder Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) denied Anton Jellvik (Taby, Sweden) on a point-blank chance to keep the game even at two into the break.

An early penalty for the Owls gave the Panthers their first lead of the game just 2:43 into the period with McCallum and Jellvik finding Stuckless for the game-winning goal.

Westfield pulled Valtonen from the net to gain an extra skater in an effort to force overtime but an Owls hand pass and penalty ultimately prevented the comeback effort.

Valtonen (L, 4-1) recorded 34 saves as the Panthers outshot the Owls 37-16 in the game. Anderson (W, 9-1-1) picked up his ninth win of the season after stopping 14 shots on goal.

The Owls were held scoreless on seven man-advantage opportunities while the Panthers were 1-5 on the power play.

Westfield State will return home to face Worcester State in a MASCAC game from Amelia Park Arena on Thursday for a 7:35 P.M. puck drop.