FALMOUTH, Mass. – Despite two third period goals, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey could not overcome a three-goal first period by Plymouth State University, falling to the Panthers 4-2 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action on Thursday at the Falmouth Ice Arena. Plymouth State moves to 6-3-0 overall and remains perfect in conference play at 4-0-0, while the Corsairs are now 4-3-0 overall, shouldering their first conference loss to move to 2-1-0.
The Panthers came out firing in the opening period, rattling off three goals to build up a solid lead. Junior left winger Brendan Doyle got things going at 5:37 of the frame, sending a shot in on goal that banked off the left post and in past the reach of Corsairs goalie
Graham Burke. Junior defender Rider McCallum and sophomore defender Josh Steele were credited with the assists on the play.
PSU took a 2-0 lead at 15:36 of the period as sophomore left wing David Matousek fired in multiple shots on goal – the first two were stopped by Burke – but the Panthers left winger connected on the third for the tally which was assisted by sophomore defender Severi Sulonen and senior right winger Dante Moretti.
Rookie center Tikhon Ashikhmin made it a 3-0 game at 18:33 as he collected a pass from sophomore right wing William Pray, roofing it over the shoulder of Burke on the right side. Doyle earned the secondary assist on the goal.
After a scoreless second period of play, the Corsairs came out strong in the final 20 minutes, getting on the board at 7:49 as sophomore right winger
Alex Walker chipped in a shot from the right post into the empty net off a feed from junior left wing
Tyler Stewart.
Looking to pull it to a one-goal game, the Corsairs pulled Burke in favor of the extra attacker in the with just over a minute to play. The Panthers capitalized as sophomore right wing Patrick O'Connell corralled the puck and navigated up ice, sending a shot into the empty net for a 4-1 advantage at 18:49.
The Corsairs answered with six seconds remaining as sophomore center
Collin Patterson drove home a feed from Stewart but UMass Dartmouth was unable to complete the comeback. Rookie defenseman
Noah Webster earned the secondary assist on the tally – his first collegiate point.
In addition to the goals and assists, the Corsairs saw rookie defender
Tommy Madden record a game-high seven blocks, while Burke notched 42 stops in goal for UMD – including 15 in the first, 16 in the second and 11 in the third.
UMass Dartmouth returns to the ice on Saturday, concluding the 2024 portion of its schedule against MASCAC-rival Salem State. The Corsairs welcome the Vikings to Hetland Arena for a 5:30pm faceoff.
