Box Score PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- Freshman Myles Abbate (Norwell, Mass.) netted a pair of goals and an assist to earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors, as top-seeded Plymouth State claimed its second straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference ice hockey championship with a 6-2 victory over third-seeded UMass Dartmouth in the 2020 title game played Saturday evening at Hanaway Rink.
The host Panthers, who improve to 15-9-3 on the season, earn the MASCAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III championship field that will be announced on Monday morning. The visiting Corsairs, who were making their second appearance in the conference title game in three years, conclude their campaign at 13-12-3.
Abbate staked Plymouth State to a 1-0 lead 13:35 into the contest on a feed from junior JR Barone (West Chester, Pa.), but junior Kai Kapossy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) evened matters for UMass Dartmouth 1:35 into the second stanza on an assist from senior Cameron Mack (Long Beach, Calif.). Senior Victor Bergstrom's (Angelholm, Sweden) power play marker with 6:55 remaining in the period gave the Panthers the lead for good heading into the final frame, and Barone extended that margin to 3-1 with just over eight minutes to play in the contest. Abbate's second score of the night with 3:09 remaining provided Plymouth State with a three-goal cushion, as the hosts received empty netters from junior Brett Backman (Cos Cob, Conn.) and freshman Marcus Seidl (Stockholm, Sweden) in the closing 91 seconds that sandwiched a power play goal off the stick of Corsair freshman Michael Perrone (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) and accounted for the final margin.
Barone joined Abbate with a three-point performance in the triumph for Plymouth State, which received two points each from Seidl and Backman. Kapossy added an assist on Perrone's goal to finish with a pair of points in the setback for UMass Dartmouth, which also received a helper off the stick of junior Eric Bolden (Oswego, Ill.).
Senior Andreas Pettersson (Trollhattan, Sweden) stopped 34 shots to pick up his 14th win of the winter between the pipes for the Panthers, while freshman Daniel Davidson (Surrey, B.C.) made 20 saves in the setback for the Corsairs. Abbate's first period goal ended Davidson's consecutive scoreless minutes streak at 280:06, the third longest such skein in NCAA Division III history. UMass Dartmouth outshot Plymouth State by a 36-24 margin, but the hosts held a 48-37 advantage at the face off dot for the contest to claim their fourth win in as many meetings between the two teams this season.
