BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (January 28, 2022) – Coming off a tough, 3-2 loss on Monday night at Southern New Hampshire, the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team traveled to the Bridgewater Ice Arena for a Northeast-10 Conference matchup with the Stonehill College Skyhawks on Friday night. Senior defenseman Stephen Jacobs (Hingham, Mass.) scored his first two goals of the season in a 5-0 rout of the Skyhawks.

With the win the Ravens improve to 6-10-0 (3-5-0 NE10), while Stonehill falls to 5-10-1 (2-5-1 NE10). Friday's game was the front end of a home-and-home series between the two sides, which have now split the first two games of their three-game season series. The rubber match and back end of the weekend set has been postponed by one day, due to the imminent arrival of Winter Storm Kenan, and is now scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena in Winchendon.

The Ravens took a 2-0 lead in the opening period, with the first goal coming at the 7:51 mark. Jacobs found the puck in the neutral zone and carried it up the right-side boards into the offensive zone. Using the defenseman as a screen, Jacobs fired a shot into the short-side of the net for his first tally of the season.

Franklin Pierce would double the lead with just 32 seconds left before the first intermission. After a faceoff in the Ravens' zone, graduate student Paul Antkowiak (Salem, N.H.) flipped the puck into the neutral zone. Senior Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colo.) split the Skyhawk defensemen, picked up the puck and moved toward the goal alone on a breakaway, before shooting the puck over the pad of the Stonehill goalie.

A three-goal second period turned the evening into a lopsided affair. The first of the trio came just 88 seconds into the frame and was Jacobs' second of the game. This time, Conor Foley (Nahant, Mass.) entered the offensive zone and cut towards the middle of the slot. Foley slid the puck back towards the boards for Anthony Nikolopoulos (Burlington, Mass.), who quickly sent it across the zone to Jacobs. Jacobs held the puck for a moment before taking a shot from the top of the circle and adding to the lead.

Just under two minutes later, at 3:17, Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) added a power-play marker.  Stevenson sent the puck to the blue line for Foley, who sent a shot along the ice toward the net. Gorbett used his stick to redirect the puck into the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season.

Junior Vito Carlo (Las Vegas, Nev.) added a goal in the late stages of the second period, at 17:25. On a give-and-go play, Carlo sent the puck to Foley in the top of the slot and moved quickly towards the far post. Foley dished out his third assist of the night, as he found Carlo with the return feed at the back door and the latter capped the scoring with his second of the year.

Graduate student goaltender Ian Wallace (West Islip, NY) stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn the win (3-5-0) and chalk up his second career shutout. Chase McKay (1-3-0) started the game for Stonehill and surrendered four goals on 20 shots over the opening 23:17. John Day entered in relief in the second period and stopped 18 of 19 shots over the remaining 36:43.