Falcons Double Up Lancers, 4-2

Ceolin nets first collegiate hat trick for Fitchburg State in conference victory

Worcester, Mass. – The Fitchburg State ice hockey team defeated the Lancers of Worcester State University, 4-2 this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action from the Worcester Ice Arena.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 4, Worcester State 2
Records: Fitchburg State (13-7-4, 11-3-4 MASCAC) | Worcester State (6-17-2, 4-13-1 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Following a scoreless first period, Fitchburg State took the lead 7:50 into the second frame as freshman forward Anthony Ceolin (Simsbury, Conn.) gathered a feed from senior Christopher Vicario (Cranston, R.I.) and sophomore Ryan Murphy (Wayzata, Minn.) and notched his ninth score on the season for the 1-0 advantage.

The Green and Gold doubled their margin with just over three minutes left the stanza with senior Dean Zerby (Harrisburg, Penn.) finding the back of the net for his third score of the 2019-20 campaign off an assist from Ceolin.

In the third period, Worcester State cut the deficit to 2-1 when senior Nick Patullo (Doylestown, Penn.) received a pass from junior Matthew Manning (Novi, Mich.) and newcomer Deiter Stange (Niles, Ill.), who deposited the puck into the back of net for his third goal of the year.

Fitchburg State answered back at the 14:28 mark as Ceolin settled a feed from Murphy and buried a shot inside the near post for his ninth marker of the season for the 3-1 edge. The Lancers would respond though with Manning connecting on his fourth goal of the 2019-20 campaign roughly one minute later to make the score 3-2.

The Falcons secured the victory when Ceolin notched his third tally of the contest with a n empty netter with just 13 seconds left in the contest, resulting in the 4-2 final.

By the Numbers

• 68th matchup between the two teams with the Falcons 45-19-4 all-time vs. the Lancers
• Fitchburg State finished with a narrow 32-30 margin in shots
• Worcester State went 1-for-2 with the man advantage
• Junior Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) made 28 saves for the Falcons
• Freshman Kevin Tardif (Dunstable, Mass.) stopped 28 shots for the Lancers
• Freshman Anthony Ceolin notched his first collegiate hat trick for the Green and Gold

Up Next

Falcons conclude the regular season this evening and have secured the second seed in the upcoming 2019-20 MASCAC Ice Hockey post-season tournament and will host the winner of the three/six quarterfinal contest next Tuesday at a time to be determined. Lancers also wrap up their 2019-20 regular season and await its seeding into the upcoming post-season conference tournament.