Owls Head Into Break With Win Against Norwich University

Waterbury, VT --- In a back and forth battle between the two American Conference rivals, the Westfield State University Owls were able to pull away in the third period to beat the Norwich Cadets 9-5. With the win, the Owls improve their league record to 2-3-0 and moved 4 points ahead of Norwich in the standings. The Owls currently are in fourth place in the division. The top 4 teams in the American Conference will qualify for the post-season. In other games in the division this weekend, MIT beat Bates College. More to come later...

The Owls will have over a month off to rest up and heal their injuries before returning to action on January 22nd against the Bates Bears.

Owls Struggle in Second Period, Lose 4-2

Westfield, MA --- Westfield State hosted the M.I.T. Engineers Saturday night at Amelia Park to start a stretch of 7 straight conference games to conclude the 2010-2011 regular season. The Owls got on the board late in the first period to take a 1-0 lead when Bobby Rash found Brett Salamon in the slot. The Engineers scored 3 goals in the second period to build a 3-1 lead going into the last 20 minutes of play. Paul McCarthy stopped 22 of the 25 shots in the middle frame and would finish the night with 43 saves.

In the third, the Owls would score a controversial goal when M.I.T's netminder was off the ice for a delayed penalty. M.I.T had control of the puck when the penalty was committed and play continued. However, the Owls stole the puck away and fired it into the empty net. The referees gathered to discuss the situation and the goal was disallowed. The ref admitted he made a mistake and that the whistle should have been blown while M.I.T. had control of the puck. 3 minutes later, Westfield would make it a 1 goal game when Corey Tobin fed the puck to Tommy Bruso on the far post who put the puck in the net. However, 29 seconds later M.I.T. would score to win the game 4-2.

The Owls travel up to Vermont next Saturday to take on Norwich University. Westfield defeated the Cadets 12-2 when the two teams met in Westfield. Norwich played Sacred Heart tonight and the result is unknown at this time. On Sunday, MIT hosted Bates College and skated to a 3-3 tie.

FINAL SCORE: M.I.T. 4 - Westfield State 2

Westfield Goals: Brett Salamon (4), Tommy Bruso (4)
Power Play: 0 for 3 (0%)
Penalty Kill: 5 for 6 (83%)

Week 10 Schedule

The following is the schedule for Week 10:

November 30th -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10 pm
December 2nd -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10 pm
December 4th -- Game VS. MIT 5 pm

Westfield State Vs. Keene State

Owls Held Scoreless Against Engineers

TROY, NY -- For the second straight game against RPI this season the Owls were held scoreless. After being delayed for 30 minutes because of a fire alarm the Owls got off to a slow start. Tyler Gloski, Robert Chase, and Andrew Halenkamp all scored in the first period as Rensselaer jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Owls had many chances to get on the board in the second period but the two teams would skate a scoreless second period. The Engineers would strike 3 power play goals within 58 seconds in the middle of the third period to beat the Owls 6-0.

The Owls are back in action on December 4th as they host the MIT Engineers at 5pm. This will start a streak of 7 straight conference games to finish out the 2010-2011 regular season.

FINAL SCORE: RPI 6 - WESTFIELD STATE 0

Westfield Goals: None
Power Play: 0 for 8 (0%)
Penalty Kill: 4 for 8 (50%)

Westfield Sweeps Keene State Owls

Westfield, MA --- The Westfield State University Owls beat the Keene State College Owls by the score of 5-2 on Saturday night to sweep the season series. After a scoreless first period, Tommy Bruso fed a pass to forward Randy Zaterka who put the Westfield State Owls on top 1-0. Keene State would strike twice within 28 seconds to take the lead 2-1. Keene's second goal came with the man advantage. Westfield finished the night killing 8 of 9 penalty kills. Billy Keating would tie the game up at two after streaking down the right wing side and deking around a Keene State defender. The Owls would skate into the second intermission tied 2-2.

Westfield would take the lead 5 minutes into the third period when Tommy Bruso fired a shot from the point that beat Keene State netminder Aaron Testa. The goal was Bruso's 3rd of the year and came on the power play. Bobby Rash would also get his 3rd goal of the year only 38 seconds later on a short-handed breakaway to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Westfield State Owls. Bobby Rash would score another goal 3 minutes later to increase the Owls lead to 5-2.

The Owls travel to Troy, NY tomorrow afternoon to take on RPI. They look to split the season series with RPI and to improve their record to .500 against the Patriot Conference. The two teams met last weekend with RPI beating the Owls 4-0.

FINAL SCORE: WESTFIELD STATE 5 --- KEENE STATE 2

Westfield Goals: Zaterka (1), Keating (2), Bruso (3), Rash (3,4)
Power Play: 1 for 4 (25%)
Penalty Kill: 8 for 9 (88%)

Week 8

The following is the schedule for Week 8:

November 16th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10 pm

November 18th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10 pm

November 20th --- Game VS. Keene State 5 pm

November 21st --- Game @ RPI 3 pm (Bus leaves at (12:15)

Owls Struggle in Third, Lose 4-0

Westfield, MA --- Westfield State dropped to 3-5-0 on the season as they allowed four third period goals as RPI went on to win 4-0. The Owls had plenty of good chances to capitalize on their power plays but were unable to beat Rensselaer's goaltender Billy Stuart. They finished the night 0 for 9 with the man advantage including two brief 5 on 3's.

Phil Ashley got the start for the Owls making 27 saves in the losing effort. His best save came midway through the second period when RPI was awarded a penalty shot. After Tyler Gloski scored with 15:22 left in the third period to break the scoreless tie, the Engineers scored on the power play 57 seconds later to make the score 2-0. The Owls finsihed the night killing off 5 of their 6 penalties. RPI would then go on to add two more insurance goals to win their 6th straight game.

Westfield State hosts the Keene State Owls on Saturday at 5 p.m. before traveling to Troy, NY for a rematch with the Engineers on Sunday at 3 p.m. In other conference games this weekend Sacred Heart scored five, third period goals, to come from behind to beat Bates College on Friday night. The two teams played again Saturday night with Sacred Heart beating Bates again 6-3.

FINAL SCORE: RPI 4 - Westfield State 0

Westfield Goals: None
Power Play: 0 for 9 (0%)
Penalty Kill: 5 for 6 (83%)

Week 7

The following is the schedule for Week 7:

November 9th --- Practice at Amelia Park 10
November 11th --- Practice at Amelia Park 10
November 13th --- Game VS. RPI 5

Bridgewater Beats Owls

Westfield, MA --- The Owls lost to Bridgewater State tonight by the score of 4-2.

FINAL SCORE: Bridgewater State 4 - Westfield State 2

Westfield Goals: Salomon (3), Hayward (2)

Power Play: 2 for 8 (25%)

Penalty Kill: 3 for 3 (100%)

Division Leaders Set to Clash Saturday Night

The Westfield State Owls (3-3) host the Bridgewater State Bears (4-1) on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Owls are hoping to record back to back conference wins for the first time this season.

In other action in the American Conference this weekend, MIT travels to Norwich on Sunday.

Owls Leading Scorers
# 4 Brett Salamon (2g, 4a, 6 pts)
#2 Ryan Mumford (2g, 4a, 6 pts)
#12 Bobby Rash (2g, 4a, 6 pts)

Bears Leading Scorers
# 19 Ryan Hebert (6g, 2a, 8pts)
# 21 Craig McKinnon (4g, 3a, 7 pts)
#9 Joe Gaughan (5g, 1a, 6 pts)

Bears Leading Goaltender
#31 Zach Dupere (4-1-0, 4.32 GAA, .88 save %)

Westfield Dominates Norwich

Westfield, MA --- Westfield State got on the board early as they capitalized on their first power play opportunity at 16:14 of the first period. Bobby Rash found Nick Rose who slipped the puck past Norwich netminder Stefan Wuorinen to make it 1-0. Norwich would get its own power play goal 59 seconds later to tie the game at 1. Westfield would finish 4 for 6 on the penalty kill. Westfield would regain the lead midway through the first period when Greg Rice broke in on a break away and beat the goaltender on the backhand. Koryd Lavimoniere would get the game winning goal at 8:18 of the first period when Brett Salamon found him all alone in the slot and one timed the shot into the back of the net. Bobby Rash and Pete Richardson would add goals to make it 5-1 after 1 period of play.

Westfield would add 6 goals in the second period to take a commanding 11-1 lead heading into the final period. Goals were scored by Ryan Mumford, Bobby Rash, Pete Richardson, Nick Rose, Brett Salamon, and Sean Hayward.

Norwich would strike first in the third period on their second power play goal of the game when Kevin Young tapped in a lose puck behind Phil Ashley. Ashley finished the night making 33 saves. Rob Collins would close out the scoring when he scored his second goal of the season on a breakaway with only 1:37 remaining in the game. With the win the Owls improve their record to 3-3 and 1-1 overall in the American Conference.

In other games this weekend around the league, Bridgewater State completed the sweep of Sacred Heart by winning 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Final Score: Westfield State 12 - Norwich University 2

Westfield Goals: Rose (1,2), Rice (2), Lavimoniere (1), Rash (1,2), Richardson (2,3), Mumford(2), Salamon (2), Hayward (1), Collins (2)
Power Play: 4 for 11 (36%)
Penalty Kill: 4 for 6 (67%)

Week 5 Schedule

The follwing is the schedule for Week 5:

October 26th -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10

October 28th -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10

October 31st -- GAME VS. NORWICH UNIVERSITY 4

Bruso's SH Tally Not Enough Against UMass

Westfield, MA ---Coming off a win versus Keene State, the Owls hosted the UMass-Amherst Minutemen Saturday afternoon at Amelia Park. The Minutemen got on the board first when Dan Cusano was able to get a shot past Owls netminder Paul McCarthy. Paul McCarthy kept the Owls in the game by keeping the Owls within one goal heading into the first intermission. McCarthy would end up making 56 saves on the night.

The Minutemen would score twice in the second and once in the third before Tommy Bruso put the Owls on the board. The goal was Bruso’s second goal of the season and was a short-handed tally. In a penalty filled game that saw the Owls in the box for most of the night, UMass would score on the power play with only 1:48 remaining to seal the deal for the Minutemen. The Owls are now 0-2 this season against their Western Mass rivals.

FINAL SCORE: UMass 6 - Westfield 1

Westfield Goals: Bruso (2)
Power Play: 0 for 4 (0%)
Penalty Kill: 6 for 9 (67%)

WSU’S Newcomer- Greg Rice Ends Game In Dramatic Fashion

Ashburnham, MA---WSU took to the road once again to take on the Keene State Owls at Cushing Academy. WSU had a new look with four new players and having three others out with injuries. WSU Owls started their freshman goaltender, Paul McCarthy for his second start of the season. WSU’s four new players are goaltender Phil Ashley stepping in for the injured Liam Whalen, forward Greg Rice stepping in for the injured Robert Poillucci, Defenseman Ryan Laughlin stepping in for the injured Chris O’Sullivan, and picking up Bobby Rash Jr for added offensive support.

The game was a back and forth struggle for most of the first period when WSU went on the power play. One bad pass and a knuckling puck later KSC went in on a 3 on 1 and scored a short handed goal. The 1st period ended with WSU trailing by a goal.

The second period was a different story with WSU taking it to KSC for the majority of the period. With a hard fore-check, WSU forced KSC to turnover the puck throughout the period. Tommy Bruso, Ryan Mumford, and Sean Hayward tallied for the only goal in the second period, and WSU took a one to one tie into the locker-room.

In the 3rd period WSU took the body hard yet again and forced KSC to turnover the puck. A late penalty to WSU’s Bobby Rash gave KSC the break they where looking for and they capitalized scoring a power play goal with 4:44 left in the 3rd, putting WSU down by a goal again. Coach John Guagliardo called WSU’S time out with just over a minute left in the game and WSU was on a power play. With the faceoff deep in the KSC zone, Captain Josh Almieda won the most important face off of the game. WSU pressed the play when the puck found its way to Christopher Hess at the point who unloaded a shot, the rebound came out to Brett Salamon who buried it in the back of the net with just 46 seconds left in the period. This is the way regulation would finish in a 2 to 2 tie.

Overtime was the same for WSU pressing the action deep in the KSC zone. KSC could only dump the puck. The action ended up in WSU’S zone when Greg Rice sprung free for a break away, the KSC defender had to pull Rice down from behind, but the referee Mike O’Hearn called for a penalty shot for WSU’S newest player. The whistle blew to start the most exciting thing in sports: a penalty shot in sudden death overtime. Rice approached the puck with speed and entered the KSC zone faking a forehand shot to the glove side from the hash marks and taking it to his back hand and shooting the puck up and over the goaltender’s blocker into the top corner of the net for the victory. Welcome to the team Greg Rice.

Coach John Guagliardo said, “We would have never made it to overtime if it was not for the superb play of freshman goaltender Paul McCarthy”, who stopped 32 of 34 shots and improving his record to 2-0-0 while WSU is 2-2-0. The rest of the team played well according to their coach; however, there are still some bugs that need to be addressed.

WSU is back on the ice Saturday for their home opener against UMASS.

The 3 stars of the game where all #1 stars in the coaches eyes, Center Brett Salamon for tying the game at two, Goaltender Paul McCarthy for his stellar play between the pipes, and Greg Rice for his sudden death penalty shot goal to end the game in dramatic fashion.

FINAL SCORE: Westfield State 3 - Keene State 2 OT

Westfield Goals: Bruso (1), Salamon (1), Rice (1)

Power Play: 1 for 8 (13%)

Penalty Kill: 4 for 5 (80%)

Owls Drop First Conference Game

Bridgeport, CT -- The Owls scored first for the second straight week only to give up four straight goals again. Johnny Hughes opened the scoring 2:49 into the game when he found a loose puck in the slot and fired his second goal of the season. Trailing 4-1 in the closing seconds of the second period Ryan Mumford flipped a shot over the goalie to cut the deficit in half. Sacred Heart would take a penalty after the goal was scored to put the Owls on the power play.

The Owls would convert early in the third on the power play on Corey Tobin’s first goal of the season. The Owls would tie the game 1:17 into the third when Nico Gilbert batted a puck out of the air on a two on one into the back of the net. However, the Owls were undisciplined and Sacred Heart would go on to score the next three goals to win the game 7-4.

In the other conference game this weekend Bridgewater State doubled up Sacred Heart 8-4 on Saturday night.

FINAL SCORE: Sacred Heart 7 – Westfield State 4

Westfield Goals: Hughes (2), Mumford (1), Tobin (1), Gilbert (2)

Power Play: 1 for 10 (10%)

Penalty Kill: 5 for 9 (55% )

Schedule Changes

The Westfield State University club hockey team announced that the games against Norwich University have been changed. The Owls will host the Cadets on Sunday, October 31st at 4 p.m. at Amelia Park. The Owls will travel up to Vermont on December 11th.

Week 4

The following is the schedule for week 4:

October 19th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 21st --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 22nd--- Game @ Keene State 8 (Bus Leaves -:--)
October 23rd --- Game VS. UMASS- AMHERST 5

Westfield State Opens Conference Play Tomorrow

The Westfield State Owls (1-1) travel down to Bridgeport, Connecticut tomorrow night to take on the Sacred Heart Pioneers (1-2). This is a crucial western division battle as the top two teams in the west qualify for the post-season.

Last Season:
Westfield State was 1-1 against Sacred Heart. They lost 6-4 when the teams first met down in Connecticut but was able to split the season series with a 4-2 win at Amelia Park.

Week 3

The following is the schedule for Week 3:

October 12th ---Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 14th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 15th --- Game @ Sacred Heart 8:30 (Bus leaves at 5:00)

Strong Start Not Enough Against UMass

After skating a scoreless first period, Pete Richardson put the Owls on top in the second as he fired the puck over UMass netminder Joe Iadarola to make it 1-0. Rob Collins would make it 2-0 after a wrist shot from the point found the back of the net. UMass would battle back to tie it 2-2 after two power play goals on a five minute major. UMass would capitalize on a bad line change to make it 3-2 heading into the third period.

After trailing 4-2 in the third, Johnny Hughes batted a puck out of the air on a 2 on 1 to bring the Owls within one. However, they could not find the equalizier and UMass went on to add two more goals before the final buzzer.

FINAL SCORE UMass 6 - Westfield 3

STATS

Westfield Goals: Richardson (1), Collins (1), Hughes (1)

PIMs: Hayward (2), Tobin (2), Hess (5), Hughes (2), Richardson (2)

Power Play: 0/5 (0%)

Penalty Kill: 3/5 (60%)

Owls Prepare For Minutemen

The Westfield State Owls (1-0) travel up to Amherst on Friday night to take on the UMass Minutmen (1-1) at the Mullin's practice rink.

Week 2

The following is the schedule for Week 2:

October 5th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 7th --- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 8th --- Game @ UMass (Bus leaves at 5:30)

Owls Come Back, Beat RWU in OT

Nico Gilbert scored the game-winning goal in OT for the Owls first win in 2010.

Week 1

The following is the schedule for Week 1 :

September 28 -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10 (Meeting at 8:45)
September 30 -- Practice @ Amelia Park 10
October 1 -- Game @ Roger Williams 5:30 (Bus leaves at 2:00)

2010 Season Opens @ Roger Williams

The Westfield State club hockey team will open up their 2010 season on the road against Roger Williams University on Friday night.