Winslow, Owls Battle Past Penmen in Hockey Fights Hunger Game

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Aiden Winslow (Jacksonville, Fla.) made 36 saves and Westfield State capitalized offensively with two power play goals to help the Owls fly past Southern New Hampshire University 3-2 in the "Hockey Fights Hunger" college hockey game from O'Brien Rink in Woburn, Mass. on Tuesday night.

The Owls win their fourth consecutive game, improving to 5-3 on the season after the non-conference victory. The Penmen drop to 2-5-1 overall.

Westfield never trailed on the night thanks in part to a quick score from Emile Tremblay (Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec) who tallied his first goal of the season 2:56 into the game. The opening frame had 31 combined shots on goal with Winslow registering 16 saves to send the Owls into the intermission with a one-goal advantage.

The Penmen opened the second period with three shots within the first 32 seconds of action. The first two were saved by Winslow with the rebound on the third shot tapped in by Jory Veenstra for the tie.

Midway through the period, the Owls took advantage of a too many men on the ice call against Southern New Hampshire, resulting in a power play goal by junior Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) who scored off assists from Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) and Cannon Bonifay (Fort Worth, Texas) for his team-leading fifth goal of the year.

Westfield was able to extend their lead to two goals in the third period after a Penmen major penalty by converting their second man-advantage marker of the evening. Pichette was involved in the scoring again, this time assisting the eventual game-winner as Louis Ouellet (Baie-Comeau, Quebec) notched his fourth of the season for a 3-1 Owls lead with 15:36 left in regulation.

The Owls continued to push on the offensive during the major penalty time, serving up five shots in a 20 second span on the tail end of the power play, all of which were saved by Penmen goaltender Sean Guerin. A sixth shot in that same span was wristed towards the net and was blocked by SNHU, springing a transition opportunity where Devlin Stone potted a short-handed goal trim the deficit back to a goal with 11:11 remaining in the game.

Leading 3-2 in the final minutes of regulation, the Owls never let the Penmen settle into any sort of rhythm in the attacking zone, forcing Guerin back into his net after he was originally pulled. The Penmen established possession with 54 seconds to go, allowing Guerin to head back to the bench. Westfield remained sound defensive, not allowing a shot attempt for SNHU to secure the win.

Westfield played a disciplined brand of hockey on the night, committing just one penalty which was killed early in the second period. The Owls went 2-4 on the man-advantage and were able to soak up time and shots during the major penalty, piling up 22 shots in the third period where they would hold a 49-38 total shots edge.

Winslow moves to 5-3 in net, starting in the first eight games of the season for Westfield. Guerin was peppered with 49 shots, stopping 46 of those attempts.

Westfield State will have a brief rest in action over the Thanksgiving break and will be back on the ice on Thursday, December 4 as the Owls enter conference play at Anna Maria College for a 5:40 P.M. puck drop.