Gover Makes 53 Saves, but Men’s Hockey Drop OT Heartbreaker to Westfield State

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The MCLA Men's Hockey team played their home opener this evening, welcoming Westfield State University to the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink for a MASCAC matchup with the Owl. Mat Gover recorded 53 saves, but the Trailblazers fell in overtime when Christopher Miraldo scored 1:43 into the extra frame.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Saturday, November 23, 2024
• Score: Westfield State 3, MCLA 2 (OT)
• Records: Westfield State University Owls 4-3-0 (MASCAC 1-1-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 0-4-0 (MASCAC 0-2-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED (Courtesy of Westfield State Athletics)

Sophomore forward Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) scored the game-winning power-play goal in overtime to send Westfield State a 3-2 victory over Mass. College of Liberal Arts in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from North Adams, Mass., on Saturday night.

The Owls bounce back from a midweek conference loss to improve to 1-1 in the MASCAC and 4-3 on the season. The Trailblazers fall to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the MASCAC.

An MCLA minor penalty combined with a five-minute major penalty granted the Owls nearly seven minutes of consecutive time on the man-advantage to end the third period. The Owls battered shots towards the net, totaling 11 shots in the final 5:08 of the game, seven of which made it towards the net where Trailblazers goalie Mathew Gover (Atkinson, N.H.) came up with saves on all of them, sending the game into overtime.

With the Owls still on the power play, Westfield cycled the puck back to the point with Daniel Finegan (Chicago, Ill.) passing the puck to Miraldo, and with the Owls playing four-on-three, skated into the open space where he would fire a wrist shot from the right face-off dot past Gover for the win. The power play tally from Miraldo came at a much-needed time for Westfield as the marker was the first goal the Owls have scored on the man advantage through the first seven games, snapping a streak of 37 straight power play opportunities without a goal to begin the year.

Westfield provided a resilient effort throughout the night, erasing a pair of one-goal deficits to tie the game before eventually securing the win in extra time.

MCLA took a 1-0 lead 5:10 into the game. The Trailblazers won an attacking zone draw with the puck finding Christopher Gallagher (Albany, N.Y.), who fired home a shot directly off the face-off for the lead.

The Owls wasted no time responding, scoring off the ensuing face-off at center ice. Julian Boisclair (Voorhees, N.J.) won the draw to Finegan, who floated the puck into the offensive end, where Raphael Seguin (Saint-Lazare, Quebec) tracked down the puck and dished it to Cooper Board (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) who notched his team-leading fifth goal of the season to tie the game eight seconds after falling behind.

The Trailblazers closed the first period with a late goal to send MCLA into the intermission with a one-goal advantage. With 57 seconds left, Sam Zis (Boulder, Colo.) skated into the Owl's defensive end, where he flipped a backhand pass to Sean Schifferel (Fort Myers, Fla.), who deposited the goal.

In the closing minutes of the second period, the Owls found a late marker of their own to tie the game. After a save from Duncan Nichols-Delay (Calgary, Alberta), Thomas Reilly (Foxborough, Mass.) made a diving effort to clear the puck out of the zone, effectively doing so while also setting up a transition opportunity for the Owls as the puck found Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) in the neutral zone. Pichette skated into the Trailblazers end, ripping a shot glove side and past Gover for the equalizer with 1:27 left in the period.

Neither team scored in the third period despite the ice being tilted in the Owls favor as a result of several MCLA penalties. The Owls outshot the Trailblazers 18-8 with Gover making all 18 saves to force overtime where Westfield would finally get a third goal past the MCLA netminder.

Westfield finished with a +30-shot advantage at 55-25 including a lopsided 38-12 lead over the final two regulation periods and overtime. Gover finished with a whopping 52 saves, while Nichols-Delay made 23 saves for the Owls.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: Westfield State 56, MCLA 34
• Saves: Westfield State 32, MCLA 53
• Faceoffs Won: Westfield State 49, MCLA 47
• Penalty/Minutes: Westfield State 6/12:00, MCLA 11/33:00
• Power Plays: Westfield State 1 for 7, MCLA 0 for 4

UP NEXT:

On Tuesday, MCLA will be back in action when they travel to Western New England University for a non-conference matchup with the Golden Bears at the Olympia Ice Center. The puck will drop at 6:30 p.m.

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