Owls Surrender a Pair of Third Period Goals, Fall 3-2 at Johnson & Wales

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Johnson and Wales sophomore forward Chris Alexander (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored a pair of third period goals to rally the Wildcats past Westfield State 3-2 in a non-conference game on Tuesday afternoon from Providence, R.I.

The Owls drop to the .500 mark at 3-3 while the Wildcats improve to 3-3-1 on the season.

Westfield got out to a two-goal lead midway through the first period, scoring in the opening minute of the game to lead 1-0. Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) corralled a loose puck at the red line where he would possess the puck into the offensive zone before directing a wrister to the glove side of JWU goalie Maxim Zinchenko (Sverdlovsk, Russia) who partially saved the shot before the puck trickled into the net to put Westfield on the board.

The Owls opened up a two-goal advantage midway through the period with Jesper Seeberg (Lake Worth, Fla) capitalizing on a defensive zone miscue from the Wildcats. Seeberg intercepted the puck and skated one on none in tight towards the net, tapping the puck back while being tripped to Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) who deposited a forehand shot past Zinchenko and into the net to make it 2-0.

Westfield went into the intermission with a two-goal lead, but JWU quickly cut the deficit in half to begin the second period. Similar to how the Owls started the first, the Wildcats recorded a goal less than one minute into the second period. Sam Band (Vancouver, B.C.) skated down the nearside boards before centering a pass into traffic where Brad Cook (Elmhurst, Ill.) tipped the puck into the net.

The Wildcats nearly found the equalizing goal on a power play opportunity midway through the second period with a one-timer from Bret Beale (Highland, Mich.) from just inside the right face-off dot was saved by Owls goalie Aiden Winslow (Jacksonville, Fla.) who needed to slide from post-to-post to make a spectacular glove save.

The Owls held a one-goal lead with under ten minutes left in the game before the Wildcats found the tying goal off the stick of Alexander with 8:48 remaining in the game. With 1:23 left in regulation, JWU buried a third goal as Alexander notched his second marker of the game off assists from Noel Parker (Saint Paul, Minn.) and Kadyn Fennell (Evansville, Ind.).

Westfield pulled Winslow with 56 seconds left in search of a third goal, but the Wildcats defense came up with three blocked shots from three different players to preserve the comeback victory.

Winslow (L, 1-2) made 31 saves for Westfield while Zinchenko (W, 1-2) settled into the game after allowing two early goals, totaling 37 saves for the Wildcats as the Owls owned a 39-34 shot advantage. Both teams were held scoreless on three man-advantage chances.

Westfield State will return home for their final home game of 2024 as the Owls host MASCAC opponent Worcester State on Thursday, December 5 at 7:35 P.M. from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass.