WATERVILLE VALLY, NH – The Plymouth State Men’s Ice Hockey team got off to a tough start last Saturday, as the Panthers fell to Nichols College 6-2 at the Ice Arena.
Freshman Eric Schottke picked up two goals and an assist to lead the Bisons in the season opener. Seniors Dennis Kane and Paul Feeney scored a goal apiece for the Panthers, while sophomore Karl Helgesson recorded a career-high 49 saves in the losing effort.
Plymouth State is coming off their best season in over a decade, finishing 13-10-2 overall and 9-5-1 in conference play while reaching the ECAC semifinals. This year’s team will be led on the ice by Captain Rory Nickerson and Assistant Captains Nick DeBaggis and Jay Londer. The Panthers will be looking to get back into the playoffs again under the leadership of Coach Brett Tryder, who is in his third season as head coach.
Both teams were held scoreless until 12:05 into the first period when Nichols freshman Jeff Bieber found the back of the net during a five-on-three power play advantage. About 1:30 later, Schottke added a goal of his own to give the Bisons a 2-0 lead, which stood through the remainder of the first period.
The score remained 2-0 until 16:09 into the second frame, when Nichols freshman Anthony Monte added a goal to increase the lead to three. It wasn’t until early in the final period when Kane drew first blood for the Panthers, scoring off assists from sophomore Deni Bojadzic and Rory to put Plymouth back in the game at 3-1.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Nichols didn’t relent from there. The Bisons answered with another power play goal from Schottke, and put the game away for good with goals from Glenn Cacaro and Cole Ruwe to make it 6-1. The Panthers made one last jab on Feeney’s goal with 0.1 seconds left on the clock, but had to settle for the 6-2 defeat.
“Basically, I think we all know what we have to do to improve and win our upcoming games,” said junior Goose Lacroix. “We need to stay out of the box, which has always been a problem for us at the beginning of the year because we want to impress the superfans. But in all honesty, taking less penalties is going to be crucial in our success this season.”
Nichols outshot the Plymouth State 55-21 for the day, but Helgesson’s efforts in net kept the game within reach until late in the final period. The 49 stops is a personal best for the 2004 All-Rookie, besting his 43-save effort in last season’s 1-0 loss to Wentworth.
“Another big thing is limiting the amount of shots our goalie sees,” Lacroix added. “That’s unheard of and unacceptable for us to give up that many shots.”
Plymouth needed just two days to recover from their defeat, picking up a 5-0 victory over Stonehill on Monday to open conference play. Now 1-1-0 on the season, the Panthers return to action on the road this Saturday, when they travel to UMass-Dartmouth.