No. 4 seed Worcester State and No. 6 seed Salem State both picked up Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Ice Hockey Quarterfinals on Saturday night. They will move on to the MASCAC Semifinals on Tuesday, February 26.

#4 Worcester State 5, #5 Fitchburg State 3 Box Score

Courtesy of the Worcester State Sports Information Department.

WORCESTER, Mass. - Three first period goals propelled the Worcester State University men's ice hockey team to a 5-3 win over Fitchburg State in the Quarterfinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Saturday evening at the Worcester Ice Center.

With the win, the Lancers improve to 15-9-2 overall on the season, and advance to the MASCAC Semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Plymouth State on Tuesday evening. Fitchburg's season comes to a close with a record of 12-12-2.

The first period was all Lancers, as Worcester State outshot Fitchburg 19-4 in the opening frame. Goals from Tim Drevitch (Oxford, N.J.), Kyle Hayter (Helena, Mont.), and Nick Patullo (Doylestown, Pa.) had the Lancers on top 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes.

Fitchburg's Nick DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.) and Sascha Figi (Kloten, Switzerland) in the opening eight minutes of the second period tightened up the contest, cutting Worcester State's lead to 3-2. Fitchburg State outshot Worcester 15-14 in the period, but still trailing the Lancers going into the third.

Patullo's second goal of the game, a power play goal, 6:43 into the third gave the Lancers a two-goal cushion, but Fitchburg still refused to go down quietly. The Falcons would cut the lead to 4-3 with the extra attacker as Figi found the back of the net for his second of the night with 2:43 remaining. Fitchburg had a handful of chances to pull even in the closing seconds, but Patullo won a pair of key in-zone draws late, and Drevitch sealed the victory with an empty netter with 1.6 seconds remaining.

Freshman Ryan Hoff (Brockton, Mass.) extended his unbeaten streak to five with a 26-save effort to improve to 4-0-1 on the year. The loss went to Fitchburg's Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.), despite a 37-save outing.

Patullo was named the game's number one star, scoring two goals and two assists, as well as winning 15 of his 21 faceoffs taken. With a goal and an assist, as well as a +3 rating, Hayter was named the game's second star. Fitchburg State's Figi scored two goals and an assist to earn third star honors.

#6 Salem State 4, #3 UMass Dartmouth 3 Box Score

Courtesy of the UMass Dartmouth Sports Information Department.

DARTMOUTH, Mass. --  Sophomore Joe Smith (Holbrook, Mass.) scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with 3:27 remaining, to lead sixth-seeded Salem State to a 4-3 victory over third-seeded UMass Dartmouth in quarterfinal round action of the 2019 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Ice Hockey Championships Saturday evening at Hetland Arena.

The visiting Vikings, who improve to 9-16-1 overall, advance to Tuesday night's semifinal round to take on second-seeded Westfield State at Amelia Park Ice Arena in Westfield, Mass. at 7:35 pm.  The host Corsairs conclude their campaign at 13-11-2 overall.

The game was scoreless until the final 3:30 of the opening period, as UMass Dartmouth took a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission after senior Brendan McDonough (Wilmington, Mass.) netted a pair of goals that were sandwiched by a marker off the stick of Salem State junior Brandon Wolfe (Granger, Ind.).  Smith evened matters just 55 seconds into the middle stanza for the Vikings, who then grabbed a 3-2 edge on freshman Ryan Tierney's (Methuen, Mass.) tally with 1:54 to play in the second period.  Corsair sophomore Kai Kapossy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) knotted the score for the final time at the 6:02 mark of the third stanza to set up Smith's heroics, as he converted feeds from Tierney and sophomore Billy Hickey(Pembroke, Mass.) on the deciding goal.

Tierney finished with a four-point performance after adding three assists to his marker on the night for Salem State, which received helpers from Wolfe and senior Aleksi Mustaniemi (Vihti, Finland).  Freshman Sean Cleary (Barnstable, Mass.) picked up the victory between the pipes for the Vikings, as he made 14 of his 25 saves in the final period alone.

Juniors Sean Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.), Tommy DeFelice (Tolland, Conn.) and Steven Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) recorded assists in the setback for UMass Dartmouth, which received 32 stops in goal from sophomore Parker Butler (Summit, N.J.).  Salem State outshot the Corsairs by a 36-28 margin for the contest, as each team won 38 face-offs on the evening.