WESTFIELD, Mass. – With six games left in the regular season, Thursday night's matchup takes on extra significance for the Westfield State Owls hockey team.
Westfield welcomes 15th-ranked Plymouth State to Amelia Park Arena for the final regular-season meeting between the two teams this season. Westfield nearly tipped the then-sixth-ranked Panthers in the first meeting back in November, when the Owls skated to a 3-3 tie. The Owls come into this game with an overall record of 11-7-1 and 8-6-1 in the MASCAC. The Panthers come in with an overall record of 16-1-2 and 13-0-2 in the MASCAC.
Plymouth got their revenge at the Hanaway Rink in New Hampshire with a hard-fought, 3-2 win over the Owls in a game that saw a combined 24 penalties and 94 minutes of penalty time between the two squads.
Plymouth has yet to lose a game in conference play this season. The Panthers come in with a 39-game unbeaten streak against MASCAC foes, as they ran the table in the conference regular-season and tournament in 2022-23 as well. Westfield handed the Panthers their last league loss on February 15, 2022. Westfield State seniors Dawson Garcia (Oakville, Ont.), Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) and Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) are the only remaining Owls who skated in that win. Westfield is 0-5-1 against Plymouth since that matchup.
In the first meeting this season against the Owls, Plymouth State's Connor Tait got the Panthers on the board first at the end of second period. The Owls then responded with two unanswered goals early in the third period from Nicolas Coppola (Glendale, Ariz.) and Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.). Plymouth State then managed to tie it up later in the period with a goal coming from Will Redick. Owl's goalie Kevin Chandler (Hanover, Mass.) hauled in 50 saves on 52 shots from Plymouth State and Panthers goalie Brandon Shantz had 21 saves on 23 shots.
Their next matchup was a back-and-forth battle with the Owls getting on the board late in the first period with a goal from Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec). The Panthers answered in the 2nd period with a goal from Will Pray, but Westfield State came right back with a goal from Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) to go up 2-1. Plymouth State ended the game with two unanswered goals from Rider McCallum and Ethan Stuckless. Owl's goalie Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) had 34 saves on 37 shots and Kalle Andersson had 14 saves on 16 shots for the Panthers.
The leading point scorer for the Owls is Emile Pichette with a total of 24 on the season, which is tied for 4th in the MASCAC. The Owls leading goal scorer is Miraldo who is second in the MASCAC with 15 goals on the year. Miraldo is also 6th in the conference in assists with six. Goalie Kevin Chandler is tied for 3rd in the MASCAC in save percentage with a percentage of 92.7%, Chandler also has a goals against average of 2.7 which is 5th in the MASCAC. Goalie Valtteri Valtonen has a save percentage of 91.3% on the year and a goals against average of 3.13. Valtonen also has a record of 6-4-0 and Chandler has a record of 5-3-1.
For Plymouth State Will Redick leads the team in total points with 42, which is currently 1st in the MASCAC. Reddick also leads the conference in goals with 20 and assists with 22. Connor Tait is 3rd in the conference in total points with 24 and also tied for 3rd in goals with 12. Goalie Kalle Andersson leads the conference in both save percentage and goals against average with a goals against average of 1.82 and a save percentage of 93.4%, Andersson has a record of 14-1-1 on the year.
The game will be live streamed on WestfieldStateOwls.com and on the MASCAC.tv channel, which is available on Roku and Apple TV devices. Westfield State students Randy Elfman and Joseph Diblasi will have the call of the game. Live stats are available on WestfieldStateOwls.com.