Worcester, Mass. - With a top seed in the MASCAC Tournament up for grabs, the Lancers hosted Framingham State Thursday evening in their second to last home game of the regular season. The game was in conjunction with the Ellie Fund, Fund, a local non profit that was created to provide essential support services for breast cancer patients in Massachusetts to ease the stresses of everyday life, allowing the focus to be on family, recovery and healing. The game ended as a historical night as the Lancers' victory over the Rams marks the first time in their history that the Worcester State Men's Ice Hockey program has 10 wins in the MASCAC.
FINAL SCORE: Worcester 5, Framingham 3
Worcester were the first to get on the board early in the first period on a successful power play opportunity when graduate defender Max Roth (Chicago, Ill.) and first-year forward Anders Grongstad (Royal Oak, Mich.) connected with sophomore forward Brigham Neuhold (Edmond, Okla.), his sixth of the season. The Lancers then followed with another scoring opportunity when Matt Kowal and Cody Porcello found senior forward Kevin Drevitch (Oxford, N.J.), who struck the puck in behind the net to extend their early lead in the game. Both sides were closely matched defensively at the end of the first, with the Lancers recording 14 shots in comparison to Framingham's 12. Framingham wasted no time as the second period began as they got themselves on the board just a minute in from John Baker, who connected with Dylan Marty to cue the deficit. Within the 12 minute marker, sophomore forward Martin Dlugolinsky (Stara Lubovna, Slovakia) responded for Worcester with a blast in the net to put the Lancers back up by two.
The Lancers were unfortunately unable to hold onto their lead as Framingham came back to tie the game heading into the third period, with their second goal of the game coming from Tyler Westfall and their third from Caleb Dusek, with assistance from Kaleb Kinskey.
The score would stay at three apiece after that, heading into the final seconds of the third period, when senior Mikey Wilson (Alexandria, V.A.) found Anders Grongstad for a goal that lit up the crowd as the Lancers took back the lead. Framingham looked to get one back as they pulled their goaltender, which eventually led to an empty netter from graduate defender Henry Bruckner (Franklin, Mass.). The clock hit zero to officially seal Worcester's tenth conference win of the season for the first time in their history.
In the net, sophomore Wyatt Friedlander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) recorded 33 saves on 36 shots in all 60 minutes of play, while Framingham's Blake Carlson saved two out of two shots before Trevor Stenberg was subbed on to record 46 saves on 50 shots.
The Lancers now stand at 10-4-1 in the MASCAC and 11-10-1 overall, while the Rams drop to 5-16-1 (3-12-1 MASCAC).