WINCHENDON, Mass. (January 15, 2020) – In a contest which was marred by penalties, particularly in the second period, the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team made sure to leave a much more positive impression with the crowd at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena at the end of Tuesday night's Northeast-10 Conference game against Post. The Ravens scored three times in the third to erase deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, to set the stage for an overtime, power-play winner from senior forward James Morrissey (West Haven, Conn.). Junior goaltender Ian Wallace (West Islip, N.Y.) and his counterpart from Post, junior Brandon Brown, dueled throughout, with each collecting 40 saves on the night.

With the victory, Franklin Pierce improves to 10-5-1 (4-1-0 NE10) and picks up two important points in the NE10 standings, while Post falls to 2-10-1 (0-7-0 NE10). The Ravens have already matched their program-record win total from a year ago (10-15-1), with 14 games still remaining on the regular-season schedule.

Trailing 2-0 and coming off of a second period where the team recorded 32 minutes on 12 infractions, things looked rather bleak for Franklin Pierce heading into the third period. However, the Ravens were able to kill a penalty for too many players on the ice early in the frame and then got a power play of their own at 4:38, when Post junior defenseman Sean Castagna was sent off for hooking. The penalty would stand as a turning point in the game, as the Ravens used some goalmouth persistence to capitalize on the man-advantage at the 5:58 mark. Both sophomore forward Anthony Nikolopoulos (Burlington, Mass.) and freshman forward Jason Ladzinski (Norcross, Ga.) were stymied by Brown from right on top of the crease, but freshman forward Conor Foley (Nahant, Mass.) was eventually able to bang home a third-chance opportunity at the right post for his fifth goal of the season.

From there, Franklin Pierce needed just 51 seconds to level the game at 2-2, at 6:49. Senior forward Alex Lester (Methuen, Mass.) led the rush into the offensive end and dished the puck off to the left wing for freshman defenseman Mitch Dolese (Mandeville, La.). Dolese threw the puck out front from the bottom of the left circle and sophomore forward Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colo.) deflected it home at the top of the crease for his eighth of the year.

Post reclaimed the lead less than three minutes later, at the 9:14 mark, after sophomore defenseman Stephen Jacobs (Hingham, Mass.) lost control of the puck behind his own net. Junior forward Jake Raleigh pounced on the turnover and fed sophomore forward Niko Grollman out front for the latter's fourth of the campaign.

With time winding down, Franklin Pierce evened things up again, this time at 3-3, with just 2:40 remaining in regulation. Post sophomore defenseman Michael Karas attempted to clear his own end, but went up the middle with it, and sophomore forward Sean Crowley (Sandown, N.H.) was able to leap to flag it down. Crowley sent the puck to the left for sophomore forward Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio), who sent it back out front to set up the fourth of the season for Nikolopoulos.

It all set the stage for overtime, where Post sophomore defenseman Harrison Sheldon would be whistled for tripping at the 2:22 mark. The Ravens needed just 13 seconds on the ensuing power play to find the winner at 2:35. From the left point, junior defenseman Paul Antkowiak (Salem, N.H.) sent the puck into the left circle for Gorbett, who sent it along to Morrissey along the goal line to the left of the goal. Morrissey looked to slide a pass across the slot to his line-mate in the right circle, but instead, the puck deflected off the skate of a Post defenseman and into the net, touching off a raucous celebration on the left-wing half-wall. It was Morrissey's sixth goal of the season.

The goal made a winner out of Wallace (5-3-0), who collected 40 saves against 43 shots while taking physical contact from the Eagles several times throughout the night. In particular, he came up big with a left-pad save on a penalty shot by junior forward Evan Lugo at the 2:13 mark of the second period to keep the deficit at just 1-0 at the time. Brown (2-7-1) suffered the loss for Post, but not before making 40 saves of his own against 44 shots.

Earlier in the night, Post got a first-period goal from Lugo and a second-period tally from senior forward Tyler Hackett in a 5-on-3 situation to build a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes. The two teams combined for 64 penalty minutes in the game, on 24 infractions, the bulk of which came in the second period. Post piled up 20 of its 43 shots on the power play, but still went just 1-for-10 on the man-advantage. Franklin Pierce had been 0-for-5 on the power play, but then cashed in on its only third-period opportunity to start the comeback and the overtime chance to finish things.

The Ravens return to the ice on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18, when they travel to Saint Michael's for a two-game NE10 weekend series. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Cairns Arena in South Burlington, Vt.

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).