The UMass Dartmouth Corsairs and Westfield State Owls have advanced to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Hockey semifinals after winning their respective quarterfinal games on Saturday.

#6 UMass Dartmouth 5, #3 Fitchburg State 4

Box Score

FITCHBURG, Mass. – The sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's ice hockey team captured a 5-4 win despite a late game surge by third-seeded Fitchburg State University in the opening round of the Massachusetts Collegiate Athletic Conference at the Wallace Civic Center on Saturday afternoon. 

The Corsairs will take on second-seeded Salem State in the semifinal round at 7 pm on Tuesday, Mar. 3. The Falcons concluded their season with an overall record of 10-13-3. 

UMass Dartmouth (8-15-3) built up a 4-0 lead over the first 41 minutes and 21 seconds of play. The Corsairs put the first score on the board only 28 seconds into the contest when junior Mike Restuccia (Malden, Mass.) wristed a shot into the lower left corner of the net off a feed from classmates Billy Boudreau (Newburyport, Mass.) and Brandon Gilmore (Quincy, Mass.). A few minutes later, Gilmore was on the receiving end of a pass from freshman Casey Shea (Woburn, Mass.) that gave the visitors a two goal advantage, which they would take into the break. 

At the 16 minute, 26 second mark in the second, freshman Mike Palmer (North Grafton, Mass.) set up classmate Jaret Babych (North Vancouver, B.C.) for the lone score of the period. To start the third, sophomore Mike Kelly (Stoneham, Mass.) capped the UMass Dartmouth run when he found the back of the net with 18 minutes and 39 seconds remaining in regulation.    

Trailing by four goals, the Falcons unleashed a trio of scores to bring the home team within one. Sophomore Jon Johannesson (Red Lake, Ont.) lit up the lamp and sparked the charge with 15 minutes left in the contest.  Over the next two minutes and seven seconds, senior Brett Nussbaum (Boca Raton, Fla.) capitalized on a power-play opportunity and junior Stephen Carlette (Cheshire, Conn.) registered an unassisted strike for the home team. 

With Fitchburg State desperately seeking to tie the contest at four-all, Babych delivered his second goal of the game to put two goals between the teams at the 12 minute, 19 seconds mark. Falcon Ryan Bedard (Derry Line, Vt.) found the back of the net for the host's fourth score of the period to bring them within one with six minutes remaining. Despite holding an advantage in shots during the final stanza (18-6), Fitchburg State was unable to produce an equalizer in the final minutes. 

In net, sophomore JJ Solloway (Derry, N.H.) stopped 40 shots and earned his first career playoff win. The Falcons split time between Ryan Wysocki (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Dan Finn (Fitchburg, Mas.). Wysocki turned away 23 attempts in 42 minutes, while Finn recorded four saves in reserve.

#4 Westfield State 6, #5 Worcester State 3

Box Score 

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior defenseman Killian Kirkwood scored a pair of goals to lead Westfield State, as the Owls skated to a 6–3 win over Worcester State in the MASCAC quarterfinals at Amelia Park on Saturday evening.
 
After a scoreless first period, the two teams combined to score five goals in the final five minutes of the second period.
 
Sean Haltam got Worcester on the board first at the 15:11 mark.
 
Westfield responded with a pair of goals just 11 seconds apart, the first from Kirkwood with a shot from the point that found the top left corner, then off the ensuing faceoff Maxime Richard tallied with a helper from Lenny Calianone for a 2-1 owls lead at the 16:38 mark.
 
The Lancers answered 22 seconds later with a marker from Alex Taddeo, to tie the game at 2-2, but the Owls took a 3-2 lead to the locker room for the second intermission as Kirkwood launched another bomb from the point with just 11 seconds left in the frame.

Westfield extended the lead with early markers from Roman Pfennings and a power play tally from Cody Campbell-Rich to build a 5-2 lead.

Worcester got one back on a Vinny Bohn power play goal 8:20 into the third, but again the Owls answered, this time with Nik Passero burying a puck in front of the net at the 15:12 mark for the 6-3 final score.
 
Tyler Fallica made 25 saves for the Lancers before being lifted for the extra skater in the final 1:37 of the contest.
 
Senior goalie Ian Perrier made 22 saves in goal for the Owls
 
Westfield State is now 12–12 – 2 into on the season and will travel to play number one seed Plymouth State at Plymouth on Tuesday at 6 PM.
 
Worcester ends its season 9-15-2 and had a five-game winning streak snapped.

Courtesy of UMass Dartmouth and Westfield Sports Information