Men’s Hockey Falls in NCAA’s

The Plymouth State Men’s hockey team capped off one of their most successful seasons in program history over Spring Break, despite falling to Norwich University on March 14^th. The 3-2 loss against the Cadets drops the Panthers’ final record to 16-9-3.

Prior to the game against Norwich, PSU was able to capture the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) post-season tournament championship over rival Salem State, 6-2.

While the score may appear to have been a blow out, Salem was able to start the game off with a 1-0 lead about 6:30 into the first period. This lead was short lived, as Riley Flanagan (Weymouth, MA) found the back of the net after senior captain Zach Sarig (Reading, PA) set Flanagan up.

With both teams looking to get momentum as the first period came to a close, Josh Woody (Sunderland, MD) and Mike Freitag (Westmont, IL) were able to find Andrew Wigg (Lantz, Nova Scotia) with 23 seconds left in the period. Aside from giving PSU the 2-1 lead, the Panthers were able to gain momentum with the goal to end the period.

Neither team was able to sustain much offense through the early part of the second period, as both goalies and defenses looked strong. Between Matt Vermillion (South Lyon, MI), Tommy Dowell (Olathe, KS), Sarig, Tord Thoresen (Oppegard, Norway), Erik Strom (Gothenburg, Sweden) and Colt Smelstor (Fairfax, VT), the defense of Plymouth was able to limit Salem to only five shots in the 20-minute period. Junior goalie Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, CA) was able to stop the handful of shots he faced.

On the offensive side of the ice for PSU, they were able to muster a number of shots, but unable to find the back of the net until Woody found the back of the net from Wigg and Freitag. Less than a minute and a half later, it was Sarig’s time to score, as Wigg and Freitag set the defender up. With the Panthers able to grab a 4-1 lead heading into the second intermission, this game appeared to be over.

The Vikings didn’t get the memo, and were able to cut the lead to 4-2 about three minutes into the third. PSU’s defense was able to shut Salem down, and Ian McGilvrey was able to make it into a 5-2 score with nine minutes left in regulation. Salem wouldn’t throw in the towel quite yet, as they pulled their goalie with about four minutes left in the third. Fortunately for PSU, Woody scored his second goal of the game on an empty-netter with an assist from Freitag. Aside from sealing the 6-2 victory, the assist by Freitag was his 100-career point in the green and white in Plymouth.

Upon Zach Sarig receiving the MASCAC championship, Freitag was named tournament Most Valuable Player, and PSU wasn’t done with awards. Upon all of the players receiving their conference championship medals, a special medal was given to Tyler Carson (Franklin, N.H.). Carson has been battling osteosarcoma, but has been able to appear at most of PSU’s games this season despite the bone cancer that he has.

As Carson and the rest of the Panthers eagerly waited to see whom they would face, Head Coach Craig Russell was able to enjoy being the MASCAC champions. “Winning a championship here is unreal also because you feel like you get to share it with the fans,” Russell said. That home-ice advantage did wonders for PSU, and it was a packed Savage Center before the game even started. “To see the stands filled up BEFORE warm-ups even started was a huge advantage to us,” Russell added. PSU was able to get comfortable with their surroundings prior to the game starting, and didn’t allow them to get too excited once the game started.

As Monday, March 9^th rolled around, it was established that PSU would play Norwich University in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Norwich, who had beaten PSU earlier in the season 9-1, was looked at as being one of, if not the top team in the nation.

Plymouth had their work cut out prior to the game starting, but having a successful week of practice, and arriving at Norwich a day before the game occurred was a big help.

Once the puck dropped, a different team than the 9-1 loss showed up on the ice.

Chippy play by the Panthers was going to be the way that they would win the game, and that is exactly how they got the game going. Only 2:23 into the game, Dan Dupell (Collegeville, PA) found fellow sophomore Mike Economos (Crystal Lake, IL) for the game’s first goal. Norwich was able to tie the game up at one apiece about four minutes later, and took a 2-1 lead midway through the first.

Outstanding goalie play by Gordon Ceasar over the next 40 minutes allowed the game to stay at 2-1, but Norwich was able to find the back of the net with 6:42 left in regulation. Despite a taunt by the scorer of the Cadets, the goal was able to stand, and PSU lost Economos for the rest of the game.

The Panthers wouldn’t go down easy, as McGilvrey cut the game back to a goal deficit upon scoring on a 2-on-1 opportunity with Tord Thoresen.

Plymouth was able to jump on a powerplay over the last few minutes of the game, but that soon turned into a 4-on-4 game, and a Norwich powerplay. Despite Norwich being on the powerplay, Gordon Ceasar was pulled from the net to create the even 5-on-5 matchup for the last thirty seconds of the game. Josh Woody had a shot that went wide of the net, and Zach Sarig’s last shot as a Panther was blocked just as the last few seconds of the clock ran off.

“We lost the game and will never find victory in defeat,” Coach Russell said after the game. Despite the 3-2 loss, PSU was able to show the Division III hockey world that they will be a team to be reckoned with in the coming years. When looking back at the game, and a season as a whole, Russell added “I’m awfully proud of this group of guys for everything they accomplished this season.”

Looking ahead to next season, the Panthers will be losing five members of the team due to graduation. Aside from Sarig and Freitag, Kyle Brumfield (Bowie, MD), Zac Enstrom (South Windsor, CT) and Chad Barthelmess (Norristown, PA) have all completed their respective careers as hockey players for PSU. While it won’t be easy to replace any of the five of them, Plymouth will do so through a few additions next year.

“We should have 4-5 forwards, 3-4 defensemen, and 1 goalie coming in next season,” Russell explained. With a large core of the team likely to be intact for the 2015-2016 season, it will be just a matter of time before the first game at Hanaway Arena. Russell already looks forward to the season getting going, but added that “it’s going to be up to the guys and how committed they want to be to making themselves better every day.”

If PSU is able to put that time into the off-season, and improve on what they had for the 2014-2015 season, watch out, as they could legitimately compete for a Division III championship.