WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Westfield State ice hockey game dropped a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game against Fitchburg State 9-3 on Thursday night from the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg, Mass.

The Owls fall to 9-13-2 on the season and 5-11-1 in the MASCAC, which currently places the Owls in fifth place in the conference standings. The Falcons improve to 12-9-3 overall and 9-5-3 in the league.

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 9:18 mark as senior Anthony Ceolin (Simsbury, Conn.) gathered a feed from classmates Joshua Miller (Saint Augustine, Fla.) and Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio) and one timed a shot inside the near post for his fifth goal on the season for the 1-0 edge.

Westfield State knotted the score at 1-1 four minutes later with freshman Brett Williams (Middleboro, Mass.) found the back of the net for his sixth tally of the year with assists from Nicholas Coppola (Glendale, Ariz.) and senior Mathieu Jones (Gatineau, Que.).

The Owls grabbed the 2-1 edge at the 15:54 mark when sophomore Kasper Korhonen (Helsinki, Finland) deposited a shot into the right side of net for his third goal of the 2023-23 campaign with an assist from Jojo Carbone (Marshfield, Mass.).

The Falcons quickly retied the contest (2-2) with just over a minute remaining in the first period as senior Rece Bergeman (Newark, Del.) converted a power-play mark off assists from Miller and graduate student Antoine Gignac (Quebec City, Que.).

In the middle stanza, Fitchburg State regained the advantage four minutes into the period when Ceolin settled a feed from senior Wyatt Wilmshurst (Massena, N.Y.) and Gignac and wristed a shot near post for his second marker of the contest to make the score 3-2.

The Green and Gold upped the lead to 4-2 midway through the frame with Gignac blasting a shot into the upper left corner for his seventh goal of the year with assists from Ceolin and Fortin. The Falcons pushed the lead to 7-2 as Ceolin connected on back-to-back tallies, while Fortin added his tenth goal on the year in the span of two and half minutes.

In the third period of play, Westfield State cut the deficit to 7-3 when freshman Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) fired a shot into the left side of the net for his team-leading 13th score of the campaign. Fortin netted his second of the night at the 12:50 mark in third with Jeremy Malliet connecting on the Falcons ninth and final goal of the night.

Westfield State will return home to face UMass Dartmouth with playoff implications on the line in the regular season finale on senior night with puck drop at 5:30 P.M. from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass.

Parts of release courtesy of Fitchburg State sports information