Men’s Hockey Stifle WNEU

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.— The MCLA Men's Hockey team got goals from five different players, including three in the third period, as they finished off a dominating win over Western New England University. Freshman Landry Laird made 32 saves in his collegiate debut as the Trailblazers won 5-1.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2023
• Score: Western New England University 1, MCLA 5
• Records: WNEU Golden Bears 2-6-1 (CCC 1-4-1) | MCLA Trailblazers 2-4-1 (MASCAC 0-4-1)

HIGHLIGHTS

• MCLA opened the scoring in the game, scoring 10 seconds into a power play after WNEU's Daniel Demchuk had been called for hooking. The Trailblazers won the faceoff and cycled the puck around to Connor Nagy along the right boards. Nagy centered a pass to Luke Rhoss, who redirected it straight to Quinn Murphy, who fired a wrist shot into the upper left corner of the goal.
• The Trailblazers continued their pattern of quick goals, doubling their advantage to two goals only 25 seconds into the second period. The goal was credited to Addam Brunner when his second effort to put home a rebound of a Sean Schifferl shot found itself in the back of the goal.
• WNEU responded with a power play goal of their own about two minutes later when Owen Schmidt found success with a shot from the center of the left faceoff circle. Sam Mitchell and Matt Dougherty were both credited with assists.
• MCLA added three more goals in the game's final period. The first two of which came in a barely two-minute stretch. First, Cade Herrera added an insurance goal as the clock ticked under 16 minutes, with assists going to Schifferl and Nathan Walerowicz.
• Luke Rhoss scored the second goal of the period to push the advantage to 4-1 when he finished off the rebound of an Easton Moore shot. Moore and Brunner provided the helpers.
• Already on a power play after the Golden Bears had been called for a too many men on the ice penalty, the Trailblazers took advantage of a five-on-three as WNEU's Matt Dougherty joined his teammate in the sin bin. It would become a costly mistake when, only 65 seconds later, Schifferl scored his second goal of the year after accepting a pass from Charlie Addesa near the end line, skating forward, and snapping off a shot over the goalie's left shoulder. Addesa and Shane Green notched the assists.
• Landry Laird turned away 32 of the 33 shots he faced to earn his first collegiate win, moving to 1-0-0 on the year, while WNEU's Anthony Aureliano stopped 23 shots and dropped to 1-4-1.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: WNEU 33, MCLA 28
• Saves: WNEU 23, MCLA 32
• Faceoffs Won: WNEU 35, MCLA 45
• Penalty/Minutes: WNEU 8/24:00, MCLA 3/6:00
• Power Plays: WNEU 0 for 2, MCLA 2 for 8

UP NEXT:

On Friday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to Vermont State Castleton for a non-conference matchup with the Spartans at the Spartans Arena as part of the Terry Moran Invitational Tournament. The puck will drop at 7 p.m.

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