Fitchburg State Rebounds Over Westfield State, 3-1

Celli nets two goals for Falcons in conference victory

FITCHBURG, Mass. (January 23, 2014) – Sophomore forward John Celli (Leominster, Mass.) collected two goals as the Fitchburg State ice hockey team defeated Westfield State, 3-1 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey action this evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

Westfield State opened the scoring at the 17:52 mark as senior forward Vince Perreault (Braeside, Ont.) wristed a shot inside the near post for his eighth score of the season on assists from sophomore P.J. McCadden (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) and junior TJ Powers (East Greenwich, R.I.) for the 1-0 margin going into the first intermission.

In the second period, Fitchburg State tied the score (1-1) just two minutes into the stanza when senior defenseman Derek Giansanti (Newington, Conn.) settled the puck at the right point and blasted a shot into the right corner of the net for his first marker of the season. Junior forward Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J.) and senior Shawn Bradley (Tewksbury, Mass.) assisted on the play.

With the man advantage, the Falcons were able to capitalize midway through the period as Celli fired a shot from the left side into the back of the net for the his seventh tally of the season going into the third frame.

In the final period of play, the Green and Gold added an insurance goal with less than two minutes remaining in the match when Celli struck for his second score of the game as he received a pair of feeds from freshman Jake Martin (Montreal, Que.) and sophomore Max Lorenzen (Leesburg, Va.) and riffled a shot into the upper left corner, resulting in the 3-1 final.

Throughout the contest, Westfield State held a slim 34-32 advantage in shots, while the Falcons converted on 2-of-9 power-play opportunities. Between the pipes, junior Ryan Wysocki (Grand Rapids, Mich.) posted 33 saves for Fitchburg State en-route to his fourth victory of the season, while senior Eddie Davey (Orangeville, Ont.) stopped 29 shots for the Owls in the setback.

Fitchburg State (7-9-0, 4-5-0 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it visits Framingham State University for a matchup starting at 2:30 p.m. Westfield State (7-9-0, 6-3-0 MASCAC) will travel to UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at 4:40 p.m.