Westfield State Ices Keene State, 4-2

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Westfield State hockey avenged an early-season loss to first-year program Keene State with a 4-2 win at in a non-conference game at Amelia Park on Thursday night.

Westfield had fallen to the Owls by a 3-1 score in the previous meeting at Keene last week.

Westfield improves to 3-2 on the season, while Keene is now 2-3-1.

The game was scoreless for the first 30 minutes, until Owls captain Cooper Board took matters into his own hands, circling back for the puck on the left side of the ice, stick handling through a trio of defenders, and ripping a wrister off the crossbar and in for a 1-0 lead.

Westfield built the lead to 3-0 with two goals in less than a minute span in the last 2:01 of the period, with Christopher Miraldo and Emile Tremblay tallying.

Keene finally got on the board with a power play tally at 12:44 of the third, needing just eight seconds of the power play for Corey Tumenas to find the back of the net.

That opened up a burst as the teams traded two more goals over the next 58 seconds, as the Owls need just 18 seconds of clock time to build the lead back to three at 4-1 after a Julian Boisclair goal, then Keene responded 40 seconds after that as Peter Unger found Thor Hansen in the slot for the goal to trim the lead to 4-2.

That was as close as Keene would get.

Board finished with a goal and an assist for Westfield, with Louis Ouellet recording a pair of assists.  Aiden Winslow stopped 28 shots in goal for Westfield, while Ben Skelton made 36 saves for Keene.

Westfield State will next open conference play on Thursday, Nov. 21 against new MASCAC member Anna Maria, with a 5:40 p.m. start at Horgan Arena in Auburn, Mass.