Worcester, MA- Worcester State's men's hockey team opened their season today with a late-Afternoon game against the Assumption University Greyhounds in the first round of the Woo Cup. With the winner advancing to tomorrow's Woo Cup final, the Lancers and Greyhounds had something to play for in their first bout of the season. The Greyhounds would come out on top in an offense-heavy 7-5 game.

The Lancers fell behind early as Assumption was able to get a quick goal in the opening minutes after puck drop. Worcester State wasn't down for long though, as they got the puck in deep just moments later and freshman Anders Grongstad (Royal Oak, Mich.) was able to slip it past the Assumption goalie for the Lancers first goal of the season which tied the game sat one a piece. Assumption jumped back ahead towards the end of the period, when the Lancers allowed the Greyhounds into their zone whilst shorthanded, only to concede the go-ahead goal just seconds after the penalty had been killed off. With 38 seconds left in the period the Lancers went on the power play, but despite keeping the puck in the offensive zone until the siren, they were unable to even up the score.

A few minutes into an action-packed second period, the Lancers capitalized on a chance to pull even. At 6:48, senior Mikey Wilson (Alexandria, Va.) gladly took open ice out in front of the Assumption crease, making the goalie bite on a quick deke and slipping the puck into the net to even the score at 2-2.  Just minutes later, senior Brendan Ronan (Saugus, Mass.) placed a centering pass perfectly for sophomore Brigham Neuhold (Edmond, Okla.) to lace a wrist shot from between the circles off both posts and into the back of the net. With three minutes remaining in the period, Assumption was able to get behind the Lancer defense and tie the game up at 3-3 on a breakaway goal. Worcester State was quick to regain the lead however, with Mikey Wilson collecting his second goal of the game from in tight on a rebound opportunity less than a minute later.

The Lancers headed into the third period up 4-3 and were able to extend on their lead at 6:00 when Mikey Wilson got a long wrister to go, completing the opening-night hat trick. The Greyhounds rapidly responded with a goal less than 90 seconds later that pulled them back within 1. With the score 5-4, the Lancers went on the penalty kill 9:30 into the period. Just as time expired on the Greyhound powerplay, they snuck one in to even up the score at 5-5. With a little over eight minutes to go the Lancers went on a power play of their own but let the opportunity to regain the lead slip away. At 17:25, Assumption went back on the power play, sentencing Worcester State to a final couple of crucial minutes shorthanded. The late game penalty would prove to be the Lancers undoing, as Assumption scored the game winner with a minute and 13 seconds left. An empty netter cemented the Assumption victory by a score of 7-5.

While Assumption will go on to play for the Woo Cup title, Worcester State will play the loser of Anna Maria-Nichols in a consolation game tomorrow at a time yet undetermined.