Courtesy Plymouth State Sports Information

PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Plymouth State University will  have home-ice advantage when it make its first appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III men’s ice hockey tournament this Wednesday (Mar. 7) as the Panthers will host Wentworth Institute of Technology at 7:00 p.m. at Hanaway Rink in a First Round contest.           

The Panthers, 17-6-3 overall, and Leopards, 20-6-1, are two of 11 teams competing for the Division III national championship, and two of eight which received their conference’s automatic berth into the tournament. PSU captured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) championship while Wentworth won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast title. The NCAA quarterfinals are Saturday, Mar. 10, on campus sites, with the NCAA semifinals and championship set for Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Mar. 16-17.           

Both teams won their conference tournaments in dramatic fashion to earn their NCAA berths.  PSU pulled out a heart-stopping 5-4 double overtime victory Saturday night over Salem State University before a capacity crowd at Hanaway Rink, the first conference championship in Plymouth State’s 40-year history of men’s ice hockey and the first automatic berth in the three-year history of the MASCAC.  Wentworth won the ECAC Northeast title, 1-0, on a penalty shot goal in the extra session.  It was the Leopards’ fifth ECAC Northeast championship.           

PSU and Wentworth met twice earlier this season at Hanaway Rink, and the Leopards took both games on Jan. 7-8, by scores of 5-2 and 3-1.  The teams also posted consecutive 2-2 ties when they met in Boston on Jan. 9-10, 2011.           

 It’s been an outstanding season for Plymouth State under second-year head coach Craig Russell, the MASCAC Coach of the Year.  Picked to finish fourth in the MASCAC, the Panthers captured the regular season conference title with a 12-3-3 mark.  The top seed in the MASCAC Tournament, PSU dispatched fifth-seeded Worcester State University, 7-1, in last Tuesday’s semifinal contest before the dramatic win over Salem State in Saturday’s title tilt.  Plymouth State needed a goal in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime, and killed off a penalty in the second overtime before claiming the title from the Vikings on home ice.           

The Panthers have really heated up since the end of January; PSU went 6-0-1 in February and takes a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) into the NCAA Tournament.   PSU features an outstanding defense and a balanced offensive attack.  Junior goaltender Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden) is a First-Team All-MASCAC performer, leading the conference in goals against average (2.29) and winning percentage (.727, 15-5-2).  Junior Richie Zobak (Hillside, Ill.), a three-time First Team All-Conference pick, and junior JC Richardson (Fort Collins, Colo.), the team captain, anchor a big, strong Panther blue-line contingent.  Junior Kyle Greco (Hillside, Ill.) leads the offensive unit, earning First Team All-Conference honors after scoring 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points, third-most in the MASCAC.  Greco is a semi-finalist for the Concannon Award, which is given to the top American born hockey player in the Division II/III ranks.           

Other top offensive threats for PSU include junior Alex Cottle (West Chester, Pa.), who collected 27 points (7 goals, 20 assists) in 25 games; senior Chris Zaremba (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and junior Kyle Weiland (Hampden, Maine), who scored 10 goals each this season, including Weiland’s double-overtime game-winner in the MASCAC Championship game; and sophomore Phil Arnone (Litchfield, N.H.), who contributed nine goals, including six on the power play.