Owls Extinguish Fitchburg, 2-0

Emile Tremblay scored the opening goal then assisted on the second in a game that halted then ultimately deemed finished due to a fire alarm and ammonia leak in the arena.

Westfield State waits outside of arena at Fitchburg due to ammonia leak in arena where the game would end with 1:52 remaining and a 2-0 Owls win.
Westfield State waits outside of arena at Fitchburg due to ammonia leak in arena where the game would end with 1:52 remaining and a 2-0 Owls win.
Video Box Score
February 21, 2026

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore forward Emile Tremblay (Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec) scored the game's opening goal then added an assist on the second as the Owls doused Fitchburg State 2-0 in the MASCAC regular season finale on Saturday evening which included a bizarre finish to the night.

The Owls end the regular season with an overall record of 16-7-2 and 9-3-2 in the MASCAC while the Falcons lose their third straight game, dropping to 17-8 on the season and 10-4 in the conference. The Owls and Falcons both conclude the regular season with 29 points; however, Fitchburg owns the tiebreaker due to their head-to-head victory over Anna Maria (The Owls and Falcons split their head-to-head matchups during the season). The Owls will be the third seed in the conference tournament while the Falcons snag one of two first round byes and the second seed.

Westfield entered the final two minutes of regulation leading 2-0 before the sounding of the fire alarms blared within the arena, which resulted in evacuation of the rink. The two teams waited outside for around 30 minutes before the game was ultimately called off with 1:52 remaining due to an ammonia leak inside the Zamboni room. The game was considered official as the two sides played two full periods prior to the stoppage.

Before the delay, the Owls were heating up on the ice, starting in the first period where Tremblay got the Owls in front. Jackson Gruber (Toronto, Ontario) tracked down the puck which was dumped into the Falcons zone, skating behind the net and dishing a pass to Brett Williams (Easton, Mass.) who whistled a shot high and wide of the net. The puck careened off the dasher and towards the blue line where Gruber rocketed a shot on goal, hitting off a Falcons defender's skate where Tremblay cleaned up the loose puck and scorched home the first goal of the night with 13:38 left in the first.

Sparks continued to fly entering the third period with the Owls clinging on to a one-goal lead. Westfield again leaned on the hot stick of Tremblay, who this time helped facilitate the second goal of the night by winning an attacking zone draw to the tape of Williams who fired a wrist shot high and into the cage for a 2-0 advantage with 18:14 remaining in regulation.

Westfield outshot Fitchburg 27-16 after two periods, then watched first-year netminder Russ DeCoste (Enfield, Nova Scotia) smother the Falcons in the final frame, making 12 saves in the briefly shortened third period to complete the shutout effort by suppressing all 28 shots on goal, stopping one final shot off the stick of Alexandre Bauvais seconds before the ringing of the fire alarm.

Westfield State will host a MASCAC quarterfinal matchup on Thursday at 7:35 P.M. from Amelia Park Arena in Westfield, Mass. as the third-seeded Owls host sixth-seeded Worcester State with the winner moving on to the conference semifinals on Saturday.