Seniors Shine in Win Over Westfield State, 5-1

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – It was a special Senior Day Saturday afternoon at Hetland Arena as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth hockey team beat Westfield State, 5-1, to break its eight-game winless streak.
 
Prior to the game, the senior class of Jimmy Pelton, Dillon Radin, Parker Butler, Chris Stangarone, Blake Harlow, Griffin Wiencek, Kai Kapossy, Pat Twombly, Melker Kroon and Derek Britner were honored.
 
Kroon scored twice for the Corsairs (9-13-2, 6-10-2 MASCAC), while junior Jake Maynard, Wienceck and Britner also found their way on the scoring sheet. Stangarone earned the win in net, playing the first 30 minutes with 10 saves, while Butler finished the second half in goal with 25 saves.
 
The lone goal for the Owls (12-11-2, 7-9-2 MASCAC) came off the stick of senior Jason Diamond.
 
UMass Dartmouth wasted no time finding the back of the net in front of its home crowd. On a power play, Radin and sophomore Michael Mania swung it to Maynard for a straight-away shot that went top shelf and flew by the keeper to make it 1-0 at the 2:07 mark of the first. Just over six minutes later, juniors Clay Ellerbrock and Stephon Perrault found Wienceck for a backhanded goal to make it 2-0.
 
Kroon scored the first two goals of the second. Perrault and junior Sky Silverstein found Kroon by himself, and he tucked it past the keeper on a breakaway, extending the lead to 3-0. Kroon made it 4-0 on a power-play goal off assists from junior Michael Perrone and Radin. Britner brought it to 5-0 when he received a pass from sophomore Dominic Dumas and Kapossy.
 
Diamond ended the shutout for the Owls with 12:09 on the clock in the second, with a helper from graduate student Chuck Costello.
 
The Corsairs will now prepare for the MASCAC tournament, which begins on Saturday. Check back for updates on UMassD's opponent and where they will play.