Men’s Ice Hockey
SALEM— Casey Miller’s (Billerica, Mass.) second period goal proved to be the difference and Jason Pucciarelli (Newmarket, Ont.) made several outstanding plays in the stretch to help Salem State earn a hard
fought 3-2 victory over the Worcester State Lancers on “Think Pink” day sponsored by St. Jean’s Credit Union at Rockett Arena. The Vikings go to 9-7-3 and 8-2-2 in the MASCAC while Worcester State slips to 6-9-3 and 4-6-2 in the conference.
Worcester State jumped on top first when Nick Patullo (Doylestown, Pa.) beat Salem State’s Jason Pucciarelli high glove side for an early 1-0 lead. Salem State tied the game at 16:26 of the first, taking advantage of a two-man advantage which Callum Hofford (Woodbridge, Ont.) converted into his sixth power play goal of the year. The Lancers broke the tie with less than a minute remaining in the first when Jim LeNoir (Exton, Pa.) fired in a shot from the slot into the top right corner for a 2-1 Worcester Stat lead heading into the first intermission.
Salem State evened the score 4:07 into the second as Hofford’ second goal snuck past a screened Josh Reinstein (Woodland Hills, Calif.) for the equalizer. Miller put the Vikings on top for the first time as he put home a perfect feed in the crease from John Needham (Medford, Mass.).
Both goaltenders made extraordinary saves in the third to keep the game a one-goal difference. Still holding a 3-2 lead in the final minutes, Salem State killed off a two-man advantage by Worcester State, which included an outstanding save by Pucciarelli and a deflection by Ryan Wilkinson (Burlington, Ont.) with thirty seconds left that preserved the 3-2 Vikings’ victory.
Pucciarelli made 28 saves in the win while his counterpart Reinstein, who played well in net, also stopped 28 shots.
Salem State will host Worcester State on Wednesday, January 28th at 7:00 PM. Worcester State travels to UMass Dartmouth on Saturday, February 2 at 7:30 PM.
Women’s Ice Hockey
SALEM – Sarah Plourde (Hookset, NH) made 33 saves as Salem State defeated Johnson & Wales 2-1 on “Think Pink” day sponsored by St. Jean’s Credit Union at Rockett Arena on Saturday afternoon. Rose Sullivan (Charlestown, MA) and Amanda Giles (Merrimack, NH) added first period scores as the Vikings notched their first Colonial Hockey Conference win (1-4) while improving to 3-12 on the season. The Wildcats slip to 7-11-1 and 2-5 in conference.
The Vikings’ rush gave Wildcat goalie Julia Aberg (Stockholm, SWE) plenty of work in the first period with 10 shots including a goal midway through the period. Danielle Kelley (Charlestown, MA) took a wrist shot that got a piece of Aberg’s body and trickled down to the goal line where Sullivan tapped it in for the game’s first goal. Giles extended the lead to 2-0 with a wrist shot from the right side. Plourde kept Johnson & Wales scoreless in the first period with five saves while the defense limited the Wildcats to only eight shots in total.
After a scoreless second period, Kathryn Mason (Grafton, MA) pulled Johnson & Wales to within one, scoring an unassisted goal from in between the circles. However, Plourde made the lead stand up, notching 15 of her 33 saves in the final period, and holding Johnson & Wales scoreless with a two-man advantage in the final two minutes. Aberg made 17 stops in the loss for the Wildcats, which outshot Salem State 34-19 for the game.
Both teams square off again tomorrow at Johnson & Wales with a 2:45 pm start.
