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.