Salem Snaps Men’s Hockey Win Streak in Regular Season Finale

SALEM, Mass. – The MCLA Men's Ice Hockey team took to the road this afternoon for their regular season finale, heading to the Rockett Arena for a MASCAC matchup with the Salem State University Vikings. Christopher Gallagher and Krisjanis Graholskis scored for the Trailblazers, but the home team got two goals apiece from James Tatro and Zach Dill to take a 5-2 win to close out the regular season.

THE BASICS

• Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026
• Score: MCLA 2, Salem 5
• Records: MCLA Trailblazers 7-15-3 (MASCAC 5-8-1) | Salem State University Vikings 8-12-4 (MASCAC 6-5-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Salem State scored the only goal of the first period with Zach Dill (12:30 of 1^st period, assisted by Greatorex & Whitelaw) with assists from Landyn Greatorex and Eric Whitelaw.
• The Vikings extended their lead with two more goals in the first half of the second period. The first was scored by James Tatro (4:14 of the 2^nd period, Dill & Dougherty) with assists by Dill and Billy Dougherty, and the second by Aidan Bender (7:55, James & Young) and assists going to Carson James and Owen Young
• MCLA responded with its first goal with about seven and a half minutes to go in the second period. Junior forward Christopher Gallagher (Albany, NY / Islanders H.C.) (12:39, Perdion) notched his sixth goal of the season, while the assist was number five for freshman forward Sam Perdion (Strongsville, OH / Charlotte Rush).
• Salem added one more goal to close out the second period ahead 4-1, thanks to the second goal of the period by Tatro (13:32, Greatorex).
• Dill (0:08 of the 3^rd period, Greatorex and Dougherty) scored his second of the afternoon, only eight seconds into the final frame, with the helpers credited as Greatorex and Dougherty.
• The Trailblazers did respond with one goal in the third period, this one by freshman defenseman Krisjanis Graholskis (Talsi, Latvia / Connecticut Nor'Easter) (16:56, Adessa), who scored his first career goal with just over four minutes remaining, aided by junior forward Charlie Addesa's (Andover, MA / Worcester Railers) second assist of the year.
• The Vikings' Hunter Thomas stopped 22 of 24 shots to improve his record to 1-3-1. MCLA's freshman goalie Roco Stolz (Bloomfield Hills, MI / Charlotte Rush) suffered the loss, falling to 7-12-2.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: MCLA 24, Salem 37
• Saves: MCLA 32, Salem 22
• Faceoffs Won: MCLA 29, Salem 31
• Penalty/Minutes: MCLA 9/34:00, Salem 5/10:00
• Power Plays: MCLA 0 for 3, Salem 1 for 5

UP NEXT

On Thursday, MCLA will be back in action when it travels back to Salem State University and the Rockett Arena for the opening round of the MASCAC playoffs and another matchup with the Vikings. The puck will drop at 7 p.m.

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