The Fitchburg State Falcons and Westfield State Owls advance to the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament after winning their respective quarterfinal games Saturday afternoon.

Fitchburg State 4, Framingham State 0 Box Score

FITCHBURG, Mass. – Third-seeded Fitchburg State University defeated the sixth seeded Rams of Framingham State University, 4-0 in quarterfinal round action of the 2015-16 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey post-season tournament this evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

Senior forward John Celli netted a pair of goals and one helper, while classmate Max Lorenzen picked up three assists for the Green and Gold to help carry the Falcons over the Rams in the first round of the conference playoffs.

Fitchburg State got on the board just 1:22 in the first period as senior forward Nat Rojas took the puck out from behind the net before dishing to line mate James Gordon for the finish in front for the 1-0 advantage, for his fourth goal of the season for the 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes of play.

In the middle frame, the Green and Gold doubled their lead (2-0) on at the final seconds of a 5-on-3 power play as Celli rifled a slap shot through traffic and finding the back of the net for his team-leading 13th tally on the season with assists from fellow seniors Ryan Connolly and Lorenzen.

Early in the final period of play, Celli struck for his second score of the contest, depositing the puck near side with the man advantage for the 3-0 lead. Lorenzen and newcomer Michael Fretz assisted on the play.

Fitchburg State added an insurance marker with just under three minutes remaining in the frame as Connolly gathered a feed from Lorenzen and Celli and wristed a shot into the upper left corner of the net for his 12th score on the year, resulting in the 4-0 final.

Throughout the contest, Fitchburg State held a 36-25 advantage in shots, while the Rams finished 0-for-5 on the power-play. In goal, freshman Charles Jakobsson stopped 25 shots for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while counterpart Alessio Muggli made 32 saves for Framingham State in 60 minutes of action.

Fitchburg State University (11-13-2, 7-9-2 MASCAC) returns to the ice on Tuesday to take on the second seeded Panthers of Plymouth State in semifinal round action of the 2015-16 MASCAC ice hockey tournament at 7 p.m. Framingham State concludes its 2015-16 season with an overall record of 6-19-1 and a 5-12-1 mark in conference play.

Westfield State 4, UMass Dartmouth 2 Box Score

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Westfield State parlayed good health into victory, as the Owls skated to a 4-2 win over UMass Dartmouth in the opening round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's ice hockey tournament at Hetland Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Westfield which had skated a line short due to a variety of injuries in the closing weeks of the season were buoyed by the returns of Jackson Leef, Cory Wilson, Mason Wade and Jeremy Young.

Westfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by senior Kyllian Kirkwood assisted by Leef.

UMass Darmouth answered 7:46 into the second period when Mike Kelly tallied the first of his two goals on the day on the power play  to tie the game at 1-1.

 
The Owls Roman Pfennings gave Westfield a 2-1 lead later in the second with Leef picking up a second assist on the afternoon.

Nik Passero extended Westfield State's lead to 3-1 with an assist from Wilson with just over 12 minutes left in the game, but Kelly's second marker of the day pulled the Corsairs to within 3-2.

Westfield withstood a late Corsairs' power play, and finally Owls' senior Dalton Jay tallied an empty-netter with 23 seconds left in the game to give Westfield the 4-2 final.  Jay's goal was his team leading 18^th of the season.

Westfield peppered UMD goaltender Drew Michals with 37 shots.  The Owls Jonathan LoParco stopped 36 shots in goal.

The Owls advance to play top seeded Salem State on Tuesday night at Salem in the MASCAC semifinals.
 

Courtesy of Fitchburg State and Westfield State Sports Information