WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester State University Men's Ice Hockey team took part in the Worcester City Shootout - hosted by Assumption College - this weekend (Nov. 28-29). The Lancers fell to Nichols College on Saturday evening 7-1, and then dropped the consolation game against Becker College 5-2 Sunday evening.
Worcester State 1, Nichols College 7
The Nichols College Bisons took control of the game, as they scored two goals in the first period at 14:00 and 19:15. The goals were scored by Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.). They added to their lead early in the second period when Paul Prescott (Oakdale, Minn.) and Butler added in two more goals on power play to up the Bison's lead to four. The Lancers were able to come back with a goal in the sixth minute of the second period on a shot by freshman Andrew Etheridge (Burrilville, R.I.). The goal was assisted by sophomores Alex Pommerville (Macedon, NY) and Sean Haltam (Medina, Ohio). The game went scoreless for about 12 more minutes in the second period, until Nichols' Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.) put the Bisons back up by four.
The Green and White increased the lead to six in the third period on another goal from Swansen, and a goal from Scott Cuthrell (Waterford, Mich.). The Lancers struggled to get back at the Bisons, concluding with the 7-1 win for Nichols College.
The Bisons outshot the Lancers 38-21 throughout the entirety of the game. Nichols also went 2-for-4 (.500) in power play opportunities, while the Lancers went 0-for-7 (.000). Despite the advantage in power plays for Worcester State, the Lancers totaled 27 penalty minutes (on eight infractions), while the Bisons only tallied up 20 minutes on 10 infractions.
Worcester State's senior goaltender, Drew Case (Plano, Texas), recorded the loss for the Lancers, stopping 31 shots in the full 60 minutes of play. Nichols College's Colin Brennan (Chester, N.J) received the win for the Bisons with 20 saves on the evening.
With the win, Nichols improved to 7-1-0 on the season, while the Lancers dropped to 2-5-1. The Bisons advanced to the Championship game of the Worcester City Shootout, while the Lancers were set to play Becker College in the Consolation game.
Worcester State 2, Becker College 5
The Lancers faced the Becker College Hawks Sunday evening in the Worcester City Shootout consolation game, only to fall 5-2. With this result, Worcester State's overall record drops to 2-6-1 on the season. The Becker College Hawks move up to 3-6-0 on the 2015-16 season.
Becker College scored the first goal of the night on a power play. The Hawk's Gerald Owen (Chesapeake, Va.) received a pass from Bryan Parsons (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Kyle Godfrey (Geneva, Ill.) to put them up 1-0 just 3:25 minutes into the game. Worcester State's freshman defender, Cody Slocum (Temecula, Calif), answered to that in the 15th minute on a power play. The goal was assisted by senior, Joe White (Wonder Lake, Ill.), who was later named to the Worcester City Shootout All-Tournament team.
Becker College regulated the second period, as they upped their lead to two on two goals from Connor Merrick (Manchester, N.H.). They added to their lead in the third period, when Nicholas McKee (Bakersfield, Calif.) slammed a shot past Worcester's goaltender in the eighth minute, and then Merrick scored his third goal of the night in the 18th minute. Just seconds after Merrick's third goal in the third period, freshman forward, Mike Moran (Milford, Mass.) scored for the Blue and Gold on a pass from freshman forward, Mitchell Purdie (Cavan, Ont.) in power play for the last goal of the night.
Despite the 5-2 loss, the Lancers took advantage on power plays, going 2-for-3 (.667), while Worcester State's defense held the Hawks to 1-for-3 (.333).
Worcester State had double the amount of penalty minutes (20-to-10) than the Hawks, including a 10 minute misconduct in the third period.
Freshman goalie, Max Kirkwood (Brunswick, Ohio) took the loss for the Lancers, while Gregg Hussey (Medford, Mass.) took the victory for the Hawks.
The Lancers resume play on Thursday (Dec. 3) when they will face MASCAC opponent, Plymouth State, in a home game at Holy Cross at 8:30 p.m.
Worcester City Shootout All-Tournament Team
#16 Joe White (Worcester State)