Men’s Ice Hockey Tripped up by Assumption on Senior Night, 4-1

WINCHENDON, Mass. (February 11, 2017) – Freshman forward Matthew Toombs (Pleasanton, Calif.) opened the scoring in the first period at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena on Saturday night, but it would be the only goal of the game for the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team. Assumption split four unanswered goals over the following two stanzas to defeat the Ravens, 4-1, in Northeast-10 Conference play. Freshman forward Brendan Philippon scored twice, including the game-winner, and added an assist along the way for the Greyhounds.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 9-14-1 (3-8-0 NE10), while Assumption improves to 9-14-2 (5-5-1 NE10). As the two teams split their previous two meetings this winter, the win allowed Assumption to claim the two NE10 standings points awarded to the winner of the season series. The two points vaulted the Greyhounds over Southern New Hampshire and into the fourth and final qualifying spot for the upcoming Northeast-10 Championship.

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with the first period's only goal, at the 8:04 mark. Taking control of the puck behind his own net, junior goaltender Tom McGuckin (Clayton, N.J.) fired the puck up the left side, hard off the glass, out of the zone and to Toombs in the neutral zone. Toombs sent a long pass across the ice to senior forward Connor Mauro (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who took the puck steaming up the right wing and cut to the middle of the ice as he came across the offensive blue line. In the high slot, Mauro dropped the puck for the now-trailing Toombs, who put a shot to the top shelf for his seventh goal of the season. McGuckin notched his first career point with the assist, while Mauro picked up a helper on Senior Night. The Ravens honored Mauro, along with senior defensemen Taylor Fletcher (Leominster, Mass.) and Alex Schleper (Sutton, Mass.) prior to the game.

Assumption struck twice in the second period to surge to a 2-1 lead. First, on a faceoff in the right-wing circle, junior forward Mike Sorenti won the draw to Philippon, who quickly put a shot towards the net. The puck was knocked now, but Sorenti followed the play and put away the rebound for his eighth goal of the campaign, at the 12:06 mark.

Later, in the final minutes of the stanza, junior forward Brian Farrell took possession on a failed clear by the Raven defense and put a shot towards the goal from the left side. The shot was knocked down, and wound up with Sorenti behind the goal line on the left side. Sorenti put it to the bottom of the left circle for Farrell, who quickly sent it across the top of the crease. Philippon was waiting at the right post for the easy one-time finish on his fourth goal of the year.

A power-play goal at the 13:57 mark of the third made it a 3-1 Assumption lead. From the left-wing corner, Farrell sent the puck to sophomore defenseman Dante Tomassini at the left point. Tomassini wound and fired from there, and McGuckin would make the save on the initial shot. However, the rebound came off the netminder and remained directly in front of the net. Though the Franklin Pierce defense was able to tie up Sorenti at the top of the crease, Philippon was lurking behind him, corralled the puck between the hash marks and salted away his second of the night.

The Greyhounds would cap the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:06. Tomassini won a battle for the puck along the boards on the defensive left side in his own end and quickly fired the puck down the ice. Tomassini's shot came so quickly he forced one of his own forwards to hit the deck to avoid the flying puck, which continued through the air, dropped in front of the crease and slid into the middle of the empty net to create the 4-1 final.

McGuckin (8-13-1) finished with 30 saves against 33 shots and suffered the loss in net for Franklin Pierce. At the other end of the ice, senior Nick Commesso (5-8-1) stopped 21 of 22 shots to pick up the win between the pipes for Assumption.

The Ravens are scheduled to wrap up the season on Sunday, Feb. 12, with a visit to Suffolk for a non-conference contest, though with Winter Storm Orson bearing down on the region, the game is certainly in jeopardy. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. at O'Neil Rink in Charlestown, Mass.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).