Westfield, Mass.- Westfield State's Jojo Carbone buried the game winner in the third period as the Owls rallied from a 3-1 deficit to top Framingham State, 6-3, in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference hockey game on Saturday February 12th at Amelia Park Ice Arena.
The Owls advance to 11-9-2 overall (6-7-2 MASCAC), while Framingham is now 2-17 and 1-13 in the conference.
The contest remained tied at three until Carbone (Marshfield, Mass) deflected a shot from Thomas Skold at 13:55 of the third that slipped past the Rams net-minder to put the Owls up one, at 4-3. Chuck Costello (Philadelphia, Pa.) gave the Owls some insurance after a loose rebound dribbled his way which he happily returned to the back of the net just three minutes later.
Jake Ratcliffe (Auckland, New Zealand) added a score of his own on an empty net opportunity late in the third period that iced the victory for the Owls.
Westfield goaltender Tyler Shugrue recorded the win, stopping 26 of the 29 shots he faced.
On Framingham's side, Blake Carlson made 55 saves on 60 shots.
Junior forward Mathieu Jones (Gatineau, Quebec) buried the first goal of the game and gave the Owls a 1-0 lead midway through the third period (9:58) off feeds from Dillon Gatto (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Thomas Skold (Jarna, Sweden). The score gives Jones his seventh goal of the season.
From there, Framingham was able to tie the game at one off a strike from Johnny Baker with a minute and four seconds left in the first period.
Westfield went down 2-1 early in the second period after Baker scored his second of the night for the Rams. Baker's night continued with an assist to Ashton Collazo at 6:31 in the second period making it 3-1 in favor of the visitors.
The Owls were able to cut the deficit to just one after a dime from Paul Frys (Portland, Oregon) during a man-up advantage found fellow senior Jason Diamond (Lakeville, Conn.) open in the slot, who netted his fifth goal of the year (9:49). This sparked some momentum for Westfield, who had Framingham doubled up on shots (40-20) by the end of the second period.
Owls defenseman Dawson Garcia (Oakville, Ontario) tied the game for the Owls at 4:20 in the third period with a stiff wrist shot he nestled into the top right corner of the net.
The game was preceded by a ceremony for the eight graduating seniors for Westfield, Justin Collins, Chuck Costello, Jason Diamond, John-Michael DiGregorio, Paul Frys, Wyatt Lawrence, Jake Ratcliffe, and Tyler Shugrue.
Westfield will next host Plymouth State on Tuesday, in a 1:25 p.m. tilt at Amelia Park, a game rescheduled from earlier this season.
- Written by Evan Levrault, sports information intern