Hockey Rallies Past Anna Maria, 2-1

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  First-year Brett Williams (Middleboro, Mass.) stuffed in a rebound midway through the third period as Westfield State rallied for a 2-1 win over Anna Maria in a non-conference men's ice hockey game at Amelia Park Arena on Thursday evening.

Westfield improved to 2-1 on the season, while Anna Maria is now 1-2.

Anna Maria got on the board first, quickly taking advantage of a power play, as Derek Raposo (Hannon, Ont.)  buried the puck at the back post after some nifty passing from Guillaume Coulombe(Ste.-Julie, Quebec) and Braeden McKinnon (Holland Landing, Ont.).

Westfield skated off a 5-minute major late in the second period to go to the second intermission still down just 1-0.

The Owls mustered just four shots on goal in the third period, but made them count, tallying on two of them.

The first came at 5:53 of the period, as Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) wristed in a shot from the left side with Justin Collins(Wilmington, Mass.) and Dan Long (Guilford, Conn.) picking up the assists.

Westfield got the game winner from Williams on the power play as Long passed the puck across the blue line to Kasper Kerhonen (Helsinki, Finland), who's initial shot was saved by Amcats goaltender Zack Roncarati (E. Longmeadow, Mass.), but Williams was on the doorstep for the rebound and knocked it home for the 2-1 lead.

From there, Owls goalie Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) made the lead stand up, as he made 13 of his 35 saves in the third period.

Roncarati finished with 24 saves for the Amcats.

Westfield will next play next Thursday, November 10, when the Owls host Plymouth State in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Anna Maria will also face Plymouth State next, as the Amcats will host the Panthers at Horgan Arena on Saturday, November 5.