Men’s Ice Hockey Stumbles in Third Period, Falls at Saint Anselm, 7-3

MANCHESTER, N.H. (February 8, 2019) – Things remained close on the Sullivan Arena scoreboard through two periods on Friday night, even though the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team was being outshot at Saint Anselm, 38-14. The Hawks offense eventually proved too much for the Ravens though, as Saint Anselm put home three third-period goals to pull away for a 7-3 win in the Northeast-10 Conference contest. Junior forward Mike Ferraro scored twice, including the game-winner, for Saint Anselm.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 9-12-1 (4-6-1 NE10), while Saint Anselm improves to 13-11-2 (8-3-1 NE10). The two teams will meet again at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Sullivan Arena to wrap up the weekend series.

The two teams combined to trade four goals in the opening period. Franklin Pierce opened the scoring at the 4:25 mark, as junior forward Alex Lester (Methuen, Mass.) struck for his 10^th goal of the season, unassisted. Just 10 seconds later, at 4:35, Saint Anselm drew even on the third of the campaign for sophomore forward Alec Andreucci, off of an assist from senior forward Jeremy Carignan.

Franklin Pierce pushed back out front at 15:33, with a power-play marker from the stick of senior forward Nate Indelicato (Pembroke, Mass.), who notched his ninth of the year, while junior forward James Morrissey (West Haven, Conn.) and senior defenseman Jack Williams (Enfield, Conn.) tacked on the assists. The lead would last longer this time, but would still not survive two minutes, as the Hawks evened it at 2-2 just 1:44 later, at 17:17, when sophomore forward Michael Foggia and junior defenseman Liam O'Sullivan combined to set up the third of the season for senior forward Brian Cameron.

Saint Anselm took its first lead of the game at the 7:13 mark of the second period, on the fourth of the year from freshman forward Killian Hammersmith, who was assisted by fellow freshman forward Anthony Iacullo, as well as O'Sullivan. This time, it was Franklin Pierce's turn to even the score, and the Ravens did so on the third of the season for freshman forward Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) at 11:43, while sophomore forward Christian Bastianelli (Newton, Mass.) and senior forward Nicholas Fotiu (Falmouth, Mass.) provided the helpers.

The Hawks took the lead for good before the second period drew to a close. Ferraro struck for his 10^th goal of the year 2:41 before the intermission, with assists credited to senior defenseman Kevin Curley and junior defenseman Dave Almeida.

Saint Anselm then found the back of the net three times in the third period to salt the game away and create the 7-3 final. Senior forward Bryan Green's ninth of the season came at 5:43, and was assisted by sophomore forward Matt Chisholm and senior defenseman Joey Harrington. At 11:29, Ferraro made it a two-goal night on the power play, thanks to an assist from senior defenseman Kevin Curley. Finally, Chisholm capped the scoring with his third of the year at 15:16, while Hammersmith and Almeida notched the assists.

Sophomore goaltender Ian Wallace (West Islip, N.Y.) piled up 44 saves, a new season high, but still allowed seven goals on 51 shots while suffering the loss (5-10-1) in the Franklin Pierce crease. Senior netminder Colin Soucy (11-10-2) stopped 17 of 20 shots at the other end to pick up the win for Saint Anselm. 

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