Men’s Ice Hockey Falls to Anna Maria in MASCAC Tournament

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) and senior Raphael Seguin (Saint-Lazare, Quebec) each scored early in the second period to cut the deficit to one goal, but Anna Maria scored five unanswered goals to defeat the Owls 8-2 in a MASCAC Quarterfinals game from Auburn, Mass. on Thursday night.

The Owls season comes to a close after the defeat, finishing the year as the seventh seed in the MASCAC Tournament and a 12-14 overall record. The second-seeded AMCATS advance into the MASCAC Semifinals and are the highest remaining seed in the field after a stunning upset victory by eighth-seeded MCLA over top-seeded Plymouth State.

Westfield dug themselves into a three-goal deficit after the first period with Brandon Della Paolera (Osoyoos, B.C.) scoring twice in the period to give the AMCATS a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

Two minutes into the second period, the Owls capitalized on a turnover at the red line setting up Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.) who dished a pass to Miraldo who skated into the zone and wristed a high shot into the net to cut the deficit to two goals.

The Owls were able to trim the AMCATS lead to one goal later in the period starting with Nicolas Coppola (Glendale, Ariz.) who skated into the offensive end where he would fire a shot on goal that was padded aside by Matthew Hennessey (Warman, SK). The rebound deflected out to the blue line where Seguin was able to keep the puck onsides, cycling and turning towards goal were his shot would ring off the post and in, making it a 3-2 contest with 12:40 left in the second.

Unfortunately, the Owls comeback effort was nullified in the back half of the period as Matthew Byrne (Penticton, B.C.) would tally two more goals for Anna Maria, the first coming 2:12 after the Seguin marker, and the other coming with 50 seconds left in the period, deflating the Westfield comeback.

Three more goals were scored by the AMCATS in the third period, sending them into the conference semifinals where they will meet upset-minded MCLA on Sunday at 5:40 P.M.

Anna Maria held a 55-23 shot advantage with the AMCATS peppering the net in the final period to the total of 24 shots on net. Aiden Winslow (Jacksonville, Fla.) made nine saves before Esteban Gauthier (Saint-Julie, Quebec) replaced him and stopped 38 shots on goal. Hennessey made 21 saves for his 14^th win of the season for the AMCATS.