BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (November 6, 2021) – A day after getting its doors blown off in the season opener, the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team rebounded in a gut-check game on the road on Saturday afternoon and put together a much more solid 60 minutes of hockey. Unfortunately for the Ravens, two goals from senior Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) would not be enough on the road at Bridgewater Ice Arena. Instead, special teams was the difference, as host Stonehill used three power-play goals and a shorthanded tally to pull out a 5-3 victory, despite Franklin Pierce holding a 28-19 advantage in shots.

With the loss in the rematch of the 2020 Northeast-10 Conference title game, Franklin Pierce falls to 0-2-0 (0-2-0 NE10), while defending NE10 champ Stonehill improves to 2-2-0 (2-0-0 NE10).

Both of Gorbett's goals came in the opening period. The first one came at the 6:25 mark off a forced turnover at the bottom of the right circle in the Stonehill zone. Gorbett gained possession, walked the goal line, and turned to shoot back towards the right side as he passed the face of the goal. Skyhawk freshman goalie Gavin FitzPatrick sprawled out to attempt to make the save, but was unable to get his glove high enough to stop the shot as the Ravens opened the scoring.

Nearly five minutes later, at 11:22, Stonehill tied the game with a shorthanded strike. Freshman Nolan FitzPatrick poked the puck away from senior Stephen Jacobs (Hingham, Mass.) at the top of the blue line and was off to the races on a breakaway. The Skyhawk forward chose to shoot and put the puck just under the glove of senior netminder Kyle Martin (Westford, Mass.).

Before the end of the first period, the Ravens would regain the lead, as Gorbett recorded his second career multiple-goal game. Graduate student Paul Antkowiak (Salem, N.H.) regrouped possession in the neutral zone for the Ravens and sent the puck up the right-side boards for junior Jason Ladzinski (Norcross, Ga.), who carried it to the top of the circle. Ladzinski sent a pass across the slot for Gorbett to slam home and give the Ravens a 2-1 lead with 4:33 remaining in the opening period.

The second period had three goals like the first, but this time all three came from the team wearing purple and white. The first two were from junior John Peloso, who struck at 5:50, and then on the power play at 9:31. Junior Brendan Nehmer added a power-play goal of his own at 12:23 of the period to give Stonehill a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission.

The Skyhawks extended the lead to 5-2 on another power-play goal just 2:13 into the third period. Once again, Peloso did the honors, as he recorded his first collegiate hat trick.

Franklin Pierce got one back late to create the 5-3 final. On the power play, sophomore Cody Rumsey (York, Pa.) tied up the opposing center on a faceoff in the Stonehill zone. Junior Dom Norris (Thurmont, Md.) cut through the circle to gain possession and then fired a laser of a shot off the post and into the back of the net to bring the Ravens within two with 5:46 to play. Franklin Pierce would eventually get the goaltender off for the extra attacker over the final 1:52, but could get no closer.

Martin (0-1-0) finished with 14 saves against 19 shots and suffered the loss in the Franklin Pierce crease. At the other end, Gavin FitzPatrick (1-0-0) stopped 25 of 28 shots on his net in the win for Stonehill.

The Ravens are back on home ice on Tuesday, Nov. 9, when they host Rivier in a non-conference contest at 7 p.m.