WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State honored a pair of senior student-athletes on Saturday night, but fell to visiting Plymouth State 5-1 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's ice hockey action at Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.

Before the game, the Lancers honored a pair of players who are in their final year with the program. Gunther Stange (Niles, Ill.) and Sean Gavin (Galena, Ohio) were joined by their families and welcomed by the fans at Worcester Ice Center.

A three-year member of the team, Gunther has played in 27 games and has tallied two goals and four assists in his Lancer career. Sean, alternate captain during both his junior and senior seasons, has dressed for 38 games and tallied five assists and a +2 rating.

Mke Wilson (Alexandria, Va.) tipped home a shot from Max Roth (Chicago, Ill.) in the final minute of regulation to put the Lancers (9-11-1, 6-7-1 MASCAC) on the board, but at that point, the Panthers were up by five, with a pair of insurance goals by Myles Abbate (Norwell, Mass.) in the third period helping the effort.

JR Barone (West Chester, Pa.) gave the Panthers the lead with the first of two visitor goals in the first period. Barone took a feed from Michael McPherson (Somerville, Mass.) for his 14^th goal of the year.

Jovan Zimmerman (Boulder, Col.) made it 2-0 Panthers before ten minutes had passed with his second goal of the year, an unassisted tally at 9:18.

After a scoreless second period, Jacob Laurin (Stockholm, Sweden) made it 3-0 Panthers with just 2:16 gone in the third before Abbate added a pair of power play goals for Plymouth.

Wyatt Friedlander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) made 43 saves, while Brendahn Brawley (Morton, Pa.) stopped 31 shots, missing out on a shutout by less than thirty seconds.

Plymouth had a 48-32 edge in shots, and was 2-6 on the power play, while the Lancers were 1-5 with the extra skater.

Worcester State will turn around in two days and host UMass Dartmouth in a game that was postponed from January 28^th. Puck drop is set for 3:40 PM.

The Panthers have one extra day off and will head to Westfield to play Westfield State on February 15^th at 1:25 PM.