Vikings Erase Three-Goal Deficit, Defeat Owls in Overtime 5-4

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Salem State junior forward Erik Larsson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) buried the overtime winner 29 seconds into the extra period as the Vikings erased a three-goal third period deficit to rally past Westfield State 5-4 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Thursday night from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass.

The Owls have now lost three straight games, falling to 9-12-1 on the season and 5-10 in the MASCAC. Salem advances to 6-16 and 4-11 in conference play.

Larsson notched the OT winner on the Vikings initial entry into the offensive end as he niftily dangled through a slew of Owls defenders, finishing the contest with a forehand shot, low blocker side for the victory.

The Owls mounted a two-goal lead heading into the third period after a pair of goals in the second period that were scored 35 seconds apart. Colin Roe (Boston, Mass.) scored an unassisted goal to give the Owls the lead after maneuvering past a Vikings defender in the neutral zone then sailing a shot above the shoulder of Salem's Aaron Mercer (Corner Brook, Newfoundland).

Crisp puck movement in the attacking zone set up the Owls third goal with Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) touching a pass to Justin Collins (Wilmington, Mass.) who then streaked through the middle of the ice and left the puck back towards the middle of the ice where Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) deposited his first of two goals on the night.

With Westfield up 3-1 entering the final regulation period, Board struck for his team-leading 12^th goal of the night 27 seconds into the third to give the Owls a 4-1 advantage with 19:33 remaining.

From that point forward, the Vikings charged forward with three goals to force overtime. Zach Dill (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) started the scoring surge with a powerplay goal, set up by Luke Pepin (Lee, N.H.) and Keagan O'Donoghue (Frisco, Texas) to cut the Owls lead to two.

Just under three minutes later, Peyton Hughes (Northridge, Calif.) scored on a breakaway attempt just after killing a minor penalty to shave the Westfield lead to one with 7:39 remaining in the third. Two minutes and 18 seconds after the Hughes tally, David Cicak (Cranford, N.J.) converted on the equalizer as the Vikings poured on three goals in a span of five minutes and three seconds, which allowed for Larsson to secure the overtime winner.

The Vikings got the scoring started for either side 7:35 into the first period with Matt Yianacopolus (Wakefield, Mass.) winning a puck battle at the defensive blue line, then feeding the puck forward to Chris Dowd (Danville, N.H.) in the center of the ice. After a long shift on the ice, Dowd skated into the offensive end on a two-on-one and beat Owls goalkeeper Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) blocker side to put Salem up 1-0.

The Owls tied the game six minutes later beginning with Cullen Young (Maynard, Mass.) who fed a cross-ice pass to JoJo Carbone (Marshfield, Mass.) at the attacking blue line who then saucered a pass towards the middle of the ice where Julian Bosclair (Voorhees, N.J.) corralled the pass and quickly roofed a shot high and past Mercer to tie the game.

Salem outshot Westfield 41-27, including a 16-7 advantage in the momentum-shifting third period. Valtonen racked up 36 saves for the Owls and Mercer stopped 23 shots on net for the Vikings.

Westfield State will return to action this weekend as the Owls travel to Framingham State for a 2:00 P.M. puck drop. Salem State will travel to UMass Dartmouth for a conference game on Saturday at 5:40 P.M.