Falcons Edged By Pilgrims, 5-2

Miller and Harty net one goal each for Green and Gold

Henniker, N.H. – The Fitchburg State ice hockey team suffered a tough 5-2 setback to the Pilgrims of New England College this evening in non-conference action from the Clement Arena.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 2, New England College 5
Records: Fitchburg State (6-4-0, 4-2-0 MASCAC) | New England College (6-2-1, 2-2-1 NEHC)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 13:03 mark when junior Joshua Miller (Saint Augustine, Fla.) deposited a shot inside the far post for his third tally on the season for the 1-0 edge as classmate Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio) assisted on the play.

In the middle stanza, the Green and Gold doubled their advantage midway through the period with freshman Thomas Harty (Billerica, Mass.) gathering a feed from Miller and newcomer Zackery Diamont (Billerica, Mass.) and blasting a shot into the back of the net for his second score of the 2021-22 campaign to make the score 2-0.

New England College cut the deficit to 2-1 five minutes later as junior Alex LaPlante (Londonderry, N.H.) connected on his fourth tally of the year off assists from sophomore Anthony Cinato (Warren, Mich.) and freshman and Mattias Thoren (Stockholm, Sweden).

In the final period of play, the Pilgrims knotted the score at the 9:41 marker when sophomore Linus Udd-Hellgren (Gavle, Sweden) netted his first collegiate goal with an assist from Cinato. New England College took the lead three minutes later with Cinato received a feed from Udd-Hellgren and notched his second goal on the year before newcomer Trevor Mormot (New Baltimore, Md.), added an empty netter resulting in the 5-2 final.

By the Numbers

• 16th matchup between the two teams with the Falcons 4-11-1 all-time vs. the Pilgrims
• New England College finished with a 41-29 margin in shots
• Fitchburg State went 0-for-3 with the man advantage
• Senior Christopher Mattone (New Windsor, N.Y.) made 36 saves for the Falcons
• Senior Andrew Kormos (Milford, Mich.) stopped 27 shots for the Pilgrims

Up Next

Falcons return to action on Saturday, January 1, 2022 as they take on Hobart College in first round action of the 2021-22 Friends of Panther Hockey Holiday Classic hosted by Middlebury College, starting at 4:00 PM.