Men's Ice Hockey Continues Playoff Run, Take Down AMC 2-1

AUBURN, Mass. – The MCLA Men's Ice Hockey team continued their Cinderella run through the MASCAC playoffs this evening when they traveled to the Horgan Ice Rink for a semi-final matchup against Anna Maria College. The teams were battling to find out who would face off against Fitchburg State on Saturday in the MASCAC finals. Cade Herrera and Easton Moore each scored for the Trailblazers while Mathew Gover turned away a season high 63 shots as MCLA followed up knocking out the top seeded Plymouth State, by dropping the second seeded AMCATs to advance to the finals

THE BASICS:

• Date: Sunday, March 2, 2025
• Score: MCLA 2, Anna Maria College 1
• Records: #8 MCLA Trailblazers 6-19-2 (MASCAC 4-12-2) | #2 Anna Maria College AMCATs 19-8-0 (MASCAC 14-4-0)

HIGHLIGHTS

• MCLA opened the scoring a bit over five minutes into the first period when sophomore forward Cade Herrera (Brentwood, CA / Seahawks H.C) knocked home the rebound of a shot from sophomore forward Sean Schifferl (Fort Myers, FL / N.H. Monarchs). Schifferl started the play by knocking a clear attempt down with his hand and keeping the puck in the AMCATs' defensive zone and centered on the net, sending a shot in from the blueline. Schifferl's shot was blocked by the foot of an Anna Maria defender, but rebounded directly to Herrera inside the left faceoff circle. Herrera (at 5:16, assisted by Schifferl) found angle that he liked and fired a laser over the goalie's glove side shoulder. The goal was the 11^th of the season for Herrera and the assist was the fifth for Schifferl. Despite being outshot 20-13 in the first period, MCLA went into the locker room up 1-0 at the first intermission.
• The shooting deficit for the Trailblazers continued into the second period, with the AMCATs taking three shots for each MCLA shot to hold 26-8 edge, but the visitors still managed to double their lead in the second period. The scoring sequence started with sophomore forward Easton Moore (Red Deer, AB / Florida Eels) bringing the puck through the neutral zone and then dumping it in behind the AMC goal. Moore then out skated a defender to follow the puck behind the net. Moore passed it out to Herrera in front, and he sent it out to sophomore defenseman Shane Green (Bear, DE / Philadelphia Little Flyers) at the left point. After going back and forth between Herrera and Green, the puck eventually made it's way to sophomore defenseman Spencer Craig (Glendale, AZ / Northern Cyclones) for a one timer from the right point. Anna Maria goalie Matthew Hennessey stopped the shot but couldn't control the rebound that went to Moore (8:24, Craig and Green) who banged it into the empty cage for his sixth goal of the year. The assists were the third for Craig and the tenth for Green.
• The second seeded AMCATs made things a bit more interesting in the third period by continuing to apply pressure to the MCLA defense and finally broke through with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation. Matthew Byrne (8:10, Derek Raposo) was credited with the goal.
• Anna Maria continued to press, forcing the Trailblazers' sophomore goalie Mathew Gover (Atkinson, NH / East Coast Wizards) to add seven saves to his total after cutting the lead back to one goal.
• MCLA's Gover finished the night with 63 saves on 64 shots and upped his record to 6-19-2. AMC's Hennessey fell to 14-8-0 after stopping 26 of 28 shots on net.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: MCLA 28, AMC 64
• Saves: MCLA 63, AMC 26
• Faceoffs Won: MCLA 35, AMC 60
• Penalty/Minutes: MCLA 0/0:00, AMC 0/0:00
• Power Plays: MCLA 0 for 0, AMC 0 for 0

UP NEXT:

On Saturday, MCLA will be back in action when it travels to Wallace Civic Center and Fitchburg State for a MASCAC Playoffs Final matchup with the Falcons. The puck will drop at 4 p.m.

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