Men’s Ice Hockey Chalks up 4-2 Win over Western New England

WINCHENDON, Mass. (January 10, 2020) – Junior goaltender Ian Wallace (West Islip, N.Y.) made 37 saves and four different Ravens found the net on Friday afternoon, as the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team doubled up Western New England, 4-2, in non-conference action at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. Senior forward Alex Lester (Methuen, Mass.) and sophomore forward Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colo.) had a goal and an assist each in the win for the Ravens.

With the victory, Franklin Pierce snaps a three-game skid and improves to 9-5-1, while Western New England falls to 3-9-2. Franklin Pierce is just one win behind the program record, which was set a year ago (10-15-1).

The first half of the contest went scoreless, before WNEU opened the scoring at the 13:46 mark of the second period. On a rush into the offensive zone, senior forward Andrew Green took the initial shot from the right-wing side. Wallace made the save, but left a big rebound on the left side. The puck came to freshman forward John D'Aniello who had an all-but empty net to finish off his third goal of the campaign.

Franklin Pierce struck twice in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. First, Lester led a rush up the ice, but was stymied by WNEU freshman goaltender Colten Lancaster as he crashed the net. Stevenson was the trailer on the play and cleaned up the loose puck for his seventh of the season at 17:37. Just under two minutes later, a tic-tac-toe passing play led to Lester's team-leading 10^th of the year. Stevenson had the puck high on the right side and sent it down low for senior forward James Morrissey (West Haven, Conn.). Morrissey found a lane across the slot and slipped a pass through to Lester, who had an easy, one-time finish.

The Golden Bears tied the game at 2-2 at the 5:37 mark of the third period, off a nifty passing play of their own. From down low on the left side, junior defenseman Nolan Zweep sent the puck to the top of the circle for senior forward Dom Blad. Blad fired a pass across to sophomore forward Connor Geshan at the bottom of the right circle and then headed for the net. Geshan held for a beat, then fed back to Blad on the give-and-go, and the latter cashed in his third of the season.

The Ravens took the lead just 3:10 later, this time for good. Freshman forward Connor Foley (Nahant, Mass.) fired a shot wide from the middle of the blue line and junior defenseman Paul Antkowiak (Salem, N.H.) was able to track down the loose puck behind the net. From there, Antkowiak fed freshman forward Jason Ladzinski (Norcross, Ga.) in the middle of the right circle. Lancaster got a piece of the one-time shot, but the puck got behind him and trickled into the net at 8:47, for Ladzinski's fifth of the year.

Franklin Pierce added an insurance marker at 16:34 to create the 4-2 final. Senior defenseman Jonathan Busolin (Goose Creek, S.C.) took the original shot from the top of the right circle. Senior forward Matthew Toombs (Pleasanton, Calif.) got his stick to the rebound on the left side and deflected the puck to sophomore defenseman Stephen Jacobs (Hingham, Mass.) at the top of the left circle. Jacobs teed up a shot from there, and Lancaster attempted to reach across his body with his glove to make the save, but whiffed on the puck instead, which resulted in Jacobs' fourth goal of the season, at 16:34.

Wallace (4-3-0) finished with 37 saves, including 16 in the third period, to pick up the win in the Franklin Pierce net. Lancaster (0-3-1) stopped 31 of 35 shots in defeat for Western New England.

The Ravens return to the ice on Tuesday, Jan. 14, when they remain home to host Post in a Northeast-10 Conference contest. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.

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.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 ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (https://www.shopfpuravens.com).