Men's Hockey Captures Crucial Two Points

Josh Woody (Sunderland, MD) had his first hat-trick as a Panther, and his four point performance ultimately led the Panthers to a 5-2 win over UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday night. The win brings the Panthers' record to 10-10-2, which is the first time they are at the .500 mark since they were 1-1.

The first period started off quickly for both teams, as Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, CA) had 12 saves in the first 20 minutes of play. Defenders Zach Sarig (Reading, PA), Dave Walters (Ottawa, Ont.) and Matt Vermillion (South Lyon, MI) all had strong games for the green and white, as they limited UM-D to only 13 shots for the final 40 minutes of play.

Upon the first intermission ending, UM-D jumped out to an early 1-0 lead only a minute into the second period, but Woody and Chad Barthelmess (Norristown, PA) found the back of the net to give the Panthers a 2-1 about midway through the contest. UM-D came back to tie the contest at two apiece only 2:14 later, but Woody netted his second goal with only 55 seconds left in the second period. The goal was scored on a 4 vs. 4 opportunity that led to Woody's ninth goal of the season.

Not only did this goal give PSU a lot of momentum heading into the third period, but it was also visibly deflating to the Corsairs of UM-D. Heading into the second intermission, the Panthers went in with the confidence that they were going to be able to capture their sixth road victory of the season.

Most teams would play quite conservatively if they had a one-goal lead at the beginning of the third period, but the Panthers kept attacking the Corsairs' defense zone shift after shift. Almost midway through the third period, Ian McGilvrey (Omaha, NE) found the back of the net for his third point of the game to give PSU some more breathing room. McGilvrey's goal gave him 27 points on the season, having accumulated nine goals and 18 assists. Woody scored an empty net goal with 14 seconds of the game remaining to put UM-D out of their misery. Aside from completing the hat-trick, this gave Woody his 10^th goal of the season to lead the team. McGilvrey, Sarig, Barthelmess and Mike Economos (Crystal Lake, IL) all have nine goals apiece.

The game against the Corsairs started a stretch that will truly dictate what seed the Panthers will get in the MASCAC (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) post-season tournament. PSU will have four games over an eight-day span against conference opponents including Framingham State, as well as Westfield State, which were in 2^nd and 4^th place respectively in the MASCAC. Panthers held down the 3^rd slot, while Salem was in first. All four teams are within three points of each other, with Salem and Framingham having played one more game than both PSU and Westfield. In short, the race to find out who is going to capture a bye (which the top two teams in the conference receive) is going to be quite exciting as the regular season comes to an end.

On Saturday, February 22^nd, the seniors of the hockey team will be honored, as Tyler Ingerson (Concord, NH), Phil Arnone (Litchfield, NH) and Walters will be celebrated on their stellar careers at PSU. All three players are class acts, and the level of intensity that the team will play with to honor the seniors at 6:00 P.M. at Hanaway Arena will create an environment that will stick in the memories of all three players for the rest of their lives.