Lancers Capture Second Conference Win over Rams

Worcester, MA- After a 12-day layover from their last game, the Lancer Men's Hockey team got back into action tonight in their second conference game of the young season. While Worcester State came into this one with a 1-3 record, that one win did come in their first conference game a couple weeks ago. They would continue their quality conference play against tonight's opponents, the Framingham State University Rams. 

Well rested from their bye week, the Lancers came out hot jumping ahead 2-0 within the first four minutes of play. Senior captain Henry Bruckner (Franklin, Mass.) got Worcester State on the board early with a well-placed wrist shot from the right faceoff circle that snuck over the left shoulder of the Rams goalie. Worcester State wasted no time padding their lead, as less than thirty seconds later senior Nick Pennucci (Worcester, Mass.) wrapped around the net and placed a centering pass right on the stick of senior Brendan Ronan (Saugus, Mass.) who easily deposited goal number two in the back of the net. The rest of the period yielded no additional goals, but the Lancers controlled the pace of the game throughout the opening 20 minutes and went into the locker room with a two-goal lead and plenty of confidence. 

Worcester State came back onto the ice with the same energy, taking advantage of a powerplay opportunity three minutes into the second period. Senior Max Roth (Chicago, Ill.) beat the Rams goalie again with an upper-third wrist shot to make the Lancer lead 3-0. About five minutes later, at 7:45, sophomore Cody Porcello (Melrose, Mass.) got in on the scoring fun off an assist from Brendan Ronan to extend the deficit to 4-0. Framingham State would finally get themselves on the scoreboard with less than four minutes remaining in the period on a goal that came on a delayed penalty. With 20 minutes to go, the score stood at 4-1. 

Worcester State padded their lead with one more goal at 5:55 on the powerplay. Mikey Wilson (Senior; Alexandria, VA) was able to push in a rebound off an initial shot from linemate sophomore Brigham Neuhold (Edmond, Okla.).

Sophomore goalie Wyatt Friedlander (Lake Placid, N.Y.) had a fantastic evening in net, saving 24 of the 25 shots he faced in his second start of the season. 

The Lancers are now 2-0 in the MASCAC with a 2-3 record overall and will look to pull to .500 on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when they visit Plymouth State for yet another conference matchup. Framingham State falls to 1-2-1 in the conference, and 2-3-1 on the season as a whole.