Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Men's Ice Hockey team (4-9, 3-6) return to MASCAC action this evening when they face off versus Westfield State (8-4-1, 5-3-1). The Lancers are coming off their first Cod Fish Bowl game victory, looking to sustain their momentum into their return to MASCAC play, while the Owls narrowly lost to Plymouth State last Saturday, as this game looks to heat up the playoff battle in the conference seedings.

Final

Worcester State: 3

Westfield State: 5

Worcester State was quick off the drop scoring their opening goal just 44 seconds into the game when graduate student Brendan Ronan (Saugus, MA) chipped in a pass from first year Michael Schaaf (Nashua, NH) nearly off the faceoff.  The lead would not hold for long though as Westfield responded just a minute later from Brett Williams. The Owls would keep the pressure on, responding quickly in the period with two more goals with another off Williams and another early goal from Christopher Miraldo before half the period had passed. Junior Wyatt Friedlander (Lake Placid, NY) would relieve junior Jakub Kubik (Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic), who has been having a dominating performance in 2024, mid way through which would allow the Lancers to regroup for the remainder of the period shutting down all future opportunities as they closed out the period down 1-3

The Owls would kick off the second period with their fourth goal just 22 seconds into the action but Worcester would not leave this goal unanswered when just 5 minutes later Ronan would score his second goal of the game this time off of sophomore Shane Prifrel (Inver Grove Heights, MN) to keep the difference at two in the game as they played shorthand after a penalty sent them down a skater. With just 6 minutes remaining in the period the Owls would push the lead to three but Worcester refused to back down and set themselves up the ice for an offensive attack. 

The Lancers would capitalize on the offensive attack, recording goal number three just over a minute into the third period off the stick handling of first year Jude Hadi (austin, TX) from passes from junior Brigham Neuhold (Edmond, OK) and Ronan, who recorded his third point of the game. Worcester would quickly return to the attack as they worked to chip away at the deficit in an attempt to to grab win number two of 2024. Worcester worked their way across the ice, with shots flying, but were unable to grab another goal as the minutes ticked down as the Owls defense held on to preserve their lead holding on for the 5-3 win.

Ronan would end the night with two goals and an assist for three points while Friedlander wrap up the night with 30 saves.

Worcester State now moves to (4-10, 3-7) while Westfield currently sits at (9-4-1, 6-3-1) with each team returning to action on Saturday, January 13th with Westfield heading to Framingham State as the Lancers look for a hotly contested rematch with UMass-Dartmouth at 5:30pm at Hetland Arena