Second seed UMass Dartmouth and sixth seed Salem State are moving on to the MASCAC men's ice hockey tournament semifinal round after winning their respective quarterfinal games on Saturday.

No. 4 UMass Dartmouth 5, No. 5 Westfield State 4 OT                Box Score

A high-energy MASCAC quarterfinal matchup between #4 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and #5 Westfield State University was decided 13 minutes into the overtime session when Kai Kapossy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) sent a rebounded puck into the vacated net to advance the Corsairs to the semifinal round with their 5-4 victory at Hetland Arena.

UMass Dartmouth grabbed early momentum on Jonathan Ruiz' (Williamstown, N.J.) MASCAC leading 25^th goal of the season when the junior rifled a one-timer off the pass of Steven Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.), giving the Corsairs the 1-0 lead. Moments later, Westfield State pulled even when Nik Passero (Fort Erie, Ont.) mimicked the Corsair goal, converting his own one-timer from the right faceoff circle following a pass from fellow-countryman Carl Greco (Niagara Falls, Ont.).

In the second period, the Corsairs gained the margin again when Brendan McDonough (Wilmington, Mass.) collected the rubber from the right post where he ripped the go-ahead power play opportunity with his eighth goal of the season. The advantage didn't last long as the Owls responded minutes later when Adam Blackman (Mansfield, Mass.) ricocheted into the net off a defender's chest to knot it at two.

With a 3-2 deficit in the third, the Blue & Gold upped the intensity on both sides of the ice and the effort paid off with 12:50 to go as a Jerry Laasko's (Tempere, Finland) slap shot from the point was re-directed to the back of the net by Ruiz, giving the senior his second of the game to level it at three apiece. With 7:48 left, the intensity remained, and so did the result when Casey Shea (Woburn, Mass.) got his team the lead in the same fashion. Westfield State forced the game to extra-time when Francois-Xavier Girard (St. Lazare, Quebec) posted his second goal of the game with seven minutes remaining in regulation.

The teams came out of the lockeroom following regulation matching one another in terms of intensity and tempo, each coming away with opportunities to seal the game. After their golden-goal was overturned due to a high-stick, the Corsairs put it away with 6:53 left in the first overtime when Kapossy returned the rebound off the pads of the Owls keeper, tucking it under the top post.

No. 6 Salem State 3, No. 3 Worcester State 2                     Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the No. 6 seeded Salem State University Vikings came back and captured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) quarterfinal win over the No. 3 seeded Worcester State University when Dan Holland(Woburn, Mass.) scored the game-winner midway through the third period.

12 minutes into the game, the Lancers' Cody Weaver (West Greenwich, R.I.) pulled the puck out from behind the net and, using the boards, passed to Mitchell Purdie (Peterborough, Ont.), who found Matthew Manning (Novi, Mich.) open on the left side of the net for the first goal of the game. The scoring would continue for the Lancers after Mike Moran (Milford, Mass.) fought for the puck behind the net and was able to connect with Tim Drevitch (Oxford, N.J.) who fired a shot over the glove of the Vikings netminder, Jason Pucciarelli (Newmarket, Ont.), to increase the Lancer lead to 2-0. Worcester State held a slim 11-10 margin in shots in the frame.

The Vikings reached the board halfway through the second period when Parker Wood (Rochester Hills, Mich.) dumped the puck to a chasing Michael Casale(Stoney Creek, Ont.). Casale then fired a shot over the shoulder of Lancer goalie, Josh Reinstein (Woodland Hills, Calif.) to cut the Lancers' lead in half (2-1).  After a penalty against the Lancers, Casey Miller (Billerica, Mass.) won the faceoff and sent it behind him to Callum Hofford (Woodbridge, Ont.) who skated across the blue line and fired a shot into the back of the net to knot it up at 2-2 with just 1:40 to go in the stanza.

Salem State took the 3-2 lead 11:50 into the final frame as Holland collected the puck in the Vikings' defensive zone and skated through the Lancers to get into the offensive zone, in turn, putting the puck past Reinstein. The Vikings would hold off the Lancers, despite two Worcester State power play opportunities, for the 3-2 quarterfinal win.

Releases courtesy of UMass Dartmouth and Worcester State Sports Information