AUBURN, Mass. (February 8, 2022) – Trailing 3-0 midway through the game, the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team used power-play goals on either side of the second intermission to close the gap to 3-2 on the road at Anna Maria. The wheels fell off from there for the Ravens at Horgan Arena, however. The penalty kill continued to scuffle, conceding twice down the stretch -- as part of just a 1-for-4 night -- as the AMCATS poured in four goals in the final 16 minutes to roll to a 7-2 victory.

With the loss in the team's final non-conference game of the year, Franklin Pierce falls to 6-13-1, while Anna Maria improves to 9-8-2.

The first period was problematic for the Ravens, who surrendered a pair of goals in the early stages of the frame. While shorthanded, Anna Maria forced a turnover in its own zone and broke up the ice in quick fashion. Senior defenseman Drew Goupille slid the puck across the Ravens' blue line to fellow senior Sam Cyr-Ledoux in the middle of the slot. Cyr-Ledoux took a few strides towards the net and shot the puck under the glove of freshman goaltender Brogan McDonald (Gorham, Maine) for his fifth of the season at 5:42.

The second came less than two minutes later, at the 7:36 mark, on another odd-man rush. On a 3-on-2, senior Patrick Manning carried the puck over the blue line on the left side of the ice. Manning gave the puck to senior Gavin Proeh in the slot, and Proeh touched it over to freshman Samuel Gaudreau in the right circle. In one motion Gaudreau received the puck and fired it to the top shelf for his second of the year.

The second period was better for the Ravens, as the teams swapped power-play goals. The AMCATS struck first, at 6:14. Anna Maria worked the puck around the outside of the zone and capitalized after freshman Derek Raposo moved the puck to junior defenseman Cam Tobey at the top of the circle. Tobey slid the puck across the slot to freshman Colby Wolter for a one-time blast into the back of the net and the latter's fifth of the campaign.

With just 55 seconds left in the stanza, the Ravens found the net while on a power play of their own. On the left side of the zone, senior Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) spotted junior Conor Foley (Nahant, Mass.) cutting to the slot. Gorbett's feed eluded the stick of Foley, but Vito Carlo (Las Vegas, Nev.) was in the right spot to corral the puck in the high slot and fire it home through traffic for his third of the year.

Franklin Pierce started the third period on the power play and converted just 30 seconds into the frame. Amid a scramble to the right of the Anna Maria goal, senior Anthony Nikolopoulos (Burlington, Mass.) was the beneficiary of a little puck luck, as an attempted clear by the defense deflected off of his shin pad and into the net for his first goal of the season.

Despite the strong start to the third period, the Ravens surrendered four straight goals in the final 16 minutes of the game, which put an emphatic end to the comeback attempt. Tobey finished off a loose puck from the high slot at 4:18, sophomore Samson Mouland picked the top-right corner from the bottom of the right circle on the power play at 7:37, Tobey popped the water bottle off the top of the cage at 9:08, and Mouland cashed in on yet another power-play chance at 12:02. Mouland's two power-play scores came against penalties charged to junior Conor Foley (Nahant, Mass.), who has now been in the penalty box for four goals against over the previous four games.

McDonald (0-1-0) made his collegiate debut in the Franklin Pierce crease and suffered the loss after making 28 saves on 33 shots against in 47:37, before departing following the fifth Anna Maria goal. Senior Kyle Martin (Westford, Mass.) entered and stopped 9 of 11 shots the rest of the way. Senior netminder Brendan Boncore (3-2-0) faced 40 shots and stopped 38 for the AMCATS.

Next up for the Ravens is a return to NE10 play with a weekend set at intra-state rival Saint Anselm College. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday at Sullivan Arena in Manchester, N.H.