WINCHENDON, Mass. (November 11, 2021) -- Up by a goal with one minute to play on Thursday night, the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team could not seal the deal on its first win of the season. A late penalty proved costly, as visiting Worcester State struck for an extra-attacker, power-play goal with 41 seconds to play to tie the game. The Lancers then scored again with 16.3 seconds to play, which left the stunned Ravens on the short end of a 4-3, non-conference decision at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 0-4-0, while Worcester State gets into the win column and improves to 1-4-0.

The Ravens led 2-1 heading into the third, but surrendered a power-play goal early in the stanza, as freshman Bridgham Neuhold put away a centering feed from junior Brendan Ronan for his third goal of the season at 2:47. Special teams have been an issue for Franklin Pierce on the young season, and a pair of power-play goals would loom large on Thursday night. Worcester State went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage, which knocked Franklin Pierce's penalty kill down to 62% for the season (13-for-21).

Franklin Pierce would reclaim the lead with less than eight minutes to go though, at 12:03. Senior Ryan Gorbett (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) provided the feed from the left side on the rush, and junior Jason Ladzinski (Norcross, Ga.) buried his first of the year from the slot. Senior Stephen Jacobs (Hingham, Mass.) added an assist on the play as well.

Things were looking up for the Ravens, until sophomore Steven Wesley (Stoneham, Mass.) was whistled for interference at 18:34. Worcester State called its timeout and pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker, effectively creating a two-man advantage. The move paid off after an offensive-zone faceoff on the right wing. Amid a scramble to the right of, and eventually behind, the Franklin Pierce net, sophomore Drew Eid and sophomore Brian Clougherty both got sticks to the puck, which squirted back towards the goal line on the right side. Junior Mike Wilson was there, and was able to squeak a shot home for his first of the campaign to level things at 3-3, with just 41 seconds to play.

From there, it took only 24.7 seconds for the Lancers to find the winner. On a rush up the ice, Ronan sent the puck from the middle of the neutral zone to sophomore Jason Lee on the left side. Lee carried into the zone and was able to find senior Will Ahearn cutting through the left circle for a deflection and his first goal of the year, to lift Worcester State to the 4-3 victory.

Earlier in the night, the first period went scoreless, before Franklin Pierce took a 2-1 lead in the second. Junior Tyler Rudek (Woonsocket, R.I.) opened the scoring at 2:04 of the middle stanza, with a shot through traffic from the high slot. Worcester State answered at 4:57, as Ronan poked the puck loose at his own blue line, chased it down and finished on the breakaway. The Ravens reclaimed the lead at 16:34 to set up the roller-coaster third, as senior David Cambria (West Bridgewater, Mass.) snapped home his first collegiate goal from the left circle on the rush.

Senior Adam Carman (Vestal, N.Y.) finished with 30 saves against 34 shots and suffered the loss (0-1-0) in the Franklin Pierce net. Junior Nevin Tardif (1-2-0) stopped 32 of 35 at the other end of the ice to pick up the win for Worcester State.