UMass Dartmouth and Westfield State skated themselves into the semifinal round of the 2024 MASCAC Men's Ice Hockey Tournament with quarterfinal victories on Thursday night.

#3 UMass Dartmouth 4, #6 Worcester State 2     Box Score

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Powered by a three-goal second period, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team defeated Worcester State University, 4-2 in MASCAC Quarterfinal action on Thursday evening at Hetland Arena.

The victory moves the third-seeded Corsairs to 16-10-0 on the season as they advance to the conference semifinals on Saturday. UMass Dartmouth will travel to second-seeded Fitchburg State for a 5pm semifinal tilt against the Falcons. It marks third appearance in the MASCAC Semifinals under the direction of eighth-year head coach Erik Noack. The sixth-seeded Lancers conclude their season with an 8-18-0 overall mark. 
 
Worcester State opened the game's scoring graduate left winger Brendan Ronan caught a nice pass across the slot from sophomore center Shane Prifrel, sending a quick shot in off a bounce past Corsairs goalie Daniel Davidson at 8:40.
 
The Corsairs countered at 14:57 as rookie center Collin Patterson banked home a shot on the right post off a beautiful feed from the left circle by graduate left winger Michael Perrone.
 
UMass Dartmouth, which was outshot in the opening period by a 10-9 margin, carried the momentum into the second stanza as sophomore right winger Kevin Johnston pulled the home team ahead at 4:1. Captain and defender Jake Maynard started the play from the right point, firing in a shot the was deflected in front by rookie center Nolan Wutzke. The puck rebounded right to Johnston on the doorstep as he fired it in on the right side for the 2-1 advantage.
 
Maynard posted what proved to be the game-winner at 13:17 for the Corsairs as the home team took advantage of a power play. Wutzke set the play up as he fired a shot through the crease that fell to sophomore left wing Tyler Stewart at the left post. Navigating past the end line, Stewart tipped a shot back to Maynard, who one-timed it in for the 3-1 lead.
 
The Corsairs expanded the lead to 4-1 at the 18:24 mark as some solid stick handling around the back of the cage saw Patterson fire a perfect cross-ice pass over to Perrone as he wristed it in for the three-goal advantage heading into the final period.
 
Worcester State nearly took advantage at the 4:40 mark of the third period as the Lancers were awarded a penalty shot, but senior defender Jason Lee's shot went wide over the head of Davidson. Minutes later, the visitors finally answered as senior right wing Brian Clougherty tipped in a shot off the stick of rookie defender Michael Schaaf for the 4-2 score at 6:43.
 
The Lancers pulled junior goalie Jakub Kubik with less than two minutes to play and despite the 6-on-5 advantage, the visitors were unable to solve the Corsairs defense as they blocked four shots over a one minute span to hold the margin.
 
Four different scorers found the back of the net for UMass Dartmouth, led by Maynard, Patterson and Perrone, who each had a goal and an assist. Wutzke finished with two assists on the night, going 10-18 from the faceoff circle, while Patterson owned an 11-24 margin in the circle. Senior defender Zach Tarantino recorded five blocks, while senior assistant captain Cade Hanley and graduate defender Stephon Perreault each had four blocks. Davidson earned the win, stopping 31 shots for the Corsairs.
 
Worcester State was paced by Ronan and Clougherty. Prifrel, who had one assist, went 11-23 from the faceoff circle, while sophomore Anders Grongstad posted an 11-14 margin in the circle. Kubik shouldered the loss, recording 27 saves in net.

#4 Westfield State 4, #5 Framingham State 0    Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) opened the game's scoring and Kevin Chandler (Hanover, Mass.) posted a 27-save shutout to lift the Owls to a 4-0 win over Framingham State in a MASCAC Quarterfinal game from Amelia Park Arena on Thursday evening.

The Owls advance into the MASCAC Semifinals where they will travel to top-seeded and 13^th-nationally ranked Plymouth State University on Saturday at 6:00 P.M. from Plymouth, N.H. The Rams 2024 season comes to an end, finishing with an overall mark of 8-16-2.

Westfield opened the scoring with under six minutes left in the first period with Ryan O'Halloran (Burlington, Mass.) delivering a pass from behind the Rams net to the tape of Board who deposited a shot passed Trevor Stenberg (Mendham, N.J.) to give Westfield a 1-0 lead.

Cullen Young (Maynard, Mass.) doubled the Owls lead just three minutes later, tipping a shot from Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) past a slew of players in front of the net to open up a 2-0 lead.

Neither team found the back of the net in the second period, but each team relied on their penalty-killing units to keep the score at 2-0. A pair of alternating major penalties gave both teams an opportunity to control the momentum, with the Rams going on the man-advantage at the midway point of the second period.

Westfield penalty killers were stout and active for the duration of the five-minute major, with Framingham's best scoring chance coming off a one-timer from Samuel Larkin (Douglas, Mass.) that was blocked by a diving Young. The Owls blocked three shots across the major penalty time, coming out unscathed.

In the third period, Ryan Moorhouse (Westfield, Mass.) added an insurance goal with under seven to go, collecting a wrap-around shot from Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) and burying the Owls third goal of the night.

Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.) sealed the victory for Westfield in the final minute, potting an empty-net marker to punch their ticket to Plymouth, N.H.

Chandler (W, 6-5-1) stopped all 27 shots faced, 12 of which came in the third period while Framingham was attempting to get back into the contest. Stenberg (L, 7-11-2) recorded 21 saves for the Rams. Framingham outshot Westfield 27-25 in the game.

Westfield will travel to Plymouth State for a MASCAC Semifinal game, where the Owls were 1-1-1 head-to-head against the Panthers in the regular season.

Releases courtesy of UMass Dartmouth and Westfield State Sports Information