November 23, 2019

Falcons Skate to Overtime Tie with Owls

Westfield St.

2-3-2, 2-1-1

Fitchburg St.

4-1-1, 2-1-1

Final	1	2	3	OT	T
Westfield St. 2-3-2, 2-1-1	2	1	1	0	4
Fitchburg St. 4-1-1, 2-1-1	0	3	1	0	4

Scoring Summary

1st - 02:26 - PP - Francois-Xavier Gira (Westfield St.)

1st - 17:14 - SH - Justin Alves (Westfield St.)

2nd - 12:40 - Ryan Murphy (Fitchburg St.)

2nd - 13:37 - Daniel Backstrom (Westfield St.)

2nd - 16:52 - Ryan Murphy (Fitchburg St.)

2nd - 17:54 - Geoffrey LaMorre (Fitchburg St.)

3rd - 00:34 - Robert Neuwirth (Westfield St.)

3rd - 06:36 - Wyatt Wilmshurst (Fitchburg St.)

Game Leaders

Westfield St.

G: 4 Players (#11, #13, #22, #28) - 1

A: 6 Players (#17, #19, #20, #22, #26, #28) - 1

Sh: 2 Players (#9, #19) - 5

Sv: Thierry Messervier - 41

Fitchburg St.

G: Ryan Murphy - 2

A: 5 Players (#6, #10, #15, #25, #26) - 1

Sh: 2 Players (#7, #15) - 5

Sv: Brian McGrath - 29

Team Stats

Game Statistics	Westfield St.	Fitchburg St.
PowerPlays	1 for 6	0 for 5
Shorthanded Goals	1	0
Penalties (min)	7 (14)	6 (12)
Shots on Goal	33	45
Face Offs Won	19	34

Full stats

Falcons Skate to Overtime Tie with Owls

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State ice hockey skated to a 4-4 overtime tie with the Owls of Westfield State this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at the Wallace Civic Center.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 4, Westfield State 4 OT
Records: Fitchburg State (4-1-1, 2-1-1 MASCAC) | Westfield State (2-3-2, 2-1-1 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Westfield State capitalized on the first man-advantage of the game for an early 1-0 lead. Senior Robert Neuwirth (Ziln, Czech Republic) found a streaking Francois-Xavier Gira (St. Lazare, Que.) down the left wing, where the senior wristed the puck top-shelf for his fourth goal of the season.

Westfield doubled the score at 17:14 of the first frame, when sophomore Justin Alves (Woburn, Mass.) intercepted a pass at the blue line and scored his third goal of the season with a shorthanded tally.

Sophomore Ryan Murphy (Wayzata, Minn.) cut the deficit in half for the Falcons at the 12:40 mark of the second period with a power-play goal from the top of the circle. However the Owls answered back less than a minute later with a goal from Daniel Backstrom (Helsinki, Finland) to push the lead back to 3-1.

The Falcons once again responeded. Playing four-on-four, Murphy made a skilled move towards net to beat Westfield's netminder Thierry Messervier (Monteral, Que.) and freshman Geoffrey LaMorre (Hubley, NS) notched his first collegiate goal from the blue-line to knot the score 3-3 heading into intermission.

Westfield pulled ahead 4-3 with a power-play goal from Neuwirth just 34 clicks into the third. The Green and Gold tied the game for the last time at 6:36 with a score from Wyatt Wilmshurst (Massena, NY) off the assist from Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio).

By the Numbers

Fitchburg State held a 45-33 margin in shots
Fitchburg State finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage, while Westfield State was 2-for-6 on the power-play
Junior Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) stopped 29 shots for the Falcons
Messervier posted 41 saves for the Owls

Up Next

Falcons host Assumption College on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup with the Greyhounds, starting at 7:00 PM. Owls will host the Wildcats from Johnson and Wales University on the same evening starting at 7:35 PM.