Men’s Hockey Drops First Home Game of Semester

COURTESY PHOTO

The Plymouth State Men’s Hockey team dropped its first home game since Plymouth opened for the Spring semester. The Panthers hosted the Owls of Westfield State.

The match started off with all of the momentum of Westfield’s side. The Owls exploded for two goals in the first period of action. The chances of a goal were coming at a pretty even rate for both teams, however, Westfield had 10 and Plymouth had 11.

The second period ended without either team finding the net, but the momentum had clearly switched due to the Panthers whopping 22 shots, compared the the Owls’ 2. With the momentum on their side, the Panthers were hoping to capitalize on the chances they were creating for themselves in the third and final period.

Around 6 minutes into the third period, senior Matt Volonnino (Hackettstown, N.J.) scored on a power play opportunity to cut the lead in half with plenty of time left to tie. However, besides Plymouth’s 20 shots on net in the final period, they were unable to capitalize. Westfield was able to solidify their victory by scoring in the final 10 seconds on Plymouth’s empty net, thus giving them the comfortable 3-1 victory on the road.

Westfield’s goalie, Thierry Messervier, was a brick wall in net turning away an amazing 52 shots of the 53 he saw on the night.

Senior goalie Evan Morelli (Reading, Mass.) had a respectable night in goal, finishing with 18 saves on 20 shots.

The Panthers are back on the ice when they host Worcester State on Thursday the 31st at 6pm and then they hit the road to take on Fitchburg State this Saturday, February 2nd at 5pm.