Hockey Wins Opener, 5-3 Over Franklin Pierce

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State got two goals and two assists from Cooper Board, and linemate Louis Oullette added a pair of goals in his collegiate debut as Westfield State topped Franklin Pierce University, 5-3 in an opening round game of the Western Mass Invitational at Amelia Park Arena in Westfield.

Westfield starts the year 1-0 while FPU is 0-1.

Westfield will host Western New England in the championship game tomorrow at 7:35 p.m.    Franklin Pierce will meet Arcadia (Pa. ) University in the consolation final at 4:35 p.m.   Both games are at Amelia Park Arena in Westfield.

Western New England topped Arcadia, 5-3 in the other first round game tonight at the Olympia in West Springfield.

Westfield got a pair of first period goals from Oullette to lead 2-1 after one period.

Franklin Pierce tied the game at 2-2 on Mario Paganini's second goal of the day just 58 seconds into the second period, but neither team could manage another point before the second intermission.

Westfield took the lid off in the third period, getting a shorthanded breakaway goal from Board at the 8:58 mark to grab a 3-2 lead, and the Owls extended the lead to 4-2 when Julian Boisclair scored off an assist from Board with 7:45 left in the game.

Franklin Pierce kept it tight as Matthew Frett tallied on a rebound from the slot with 2:51 left to trim the lead back to 4-3.

The Ravens pulled goalie Jeff Reda with a minute to go to look to equalize, but Board won a battle for the puck near the Owls blue line and slid it the length of the ice with 22 seconds left to ice the 5-3 final for Westfield.

Westfield State got 27 saves from junior goalie Duncan Nichols-Delay, while Reda stopped 34 shots in his debut.