WINCHENDON, Mass. (February 7, 2023)- It was a battle of the birds Tuesday night and the Stonehill Skyhawks topped the Franklin Pierce Ravens, 5-3 at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena. Tonight's game marked the 10th time on the year that the Purple and White netted five or more goals. When the squad hits the five-goal mark in a game, Stonehill is an impressive 9-0-1. 

Scoring

STO: Jake Cady ( Ryan Davies and Kyle Heath), 08:22-1st period

        Matthew Pimental (Cameron Collins and Ryan Davies), 13:28-1st period

        Dean Schwenninger (Frank Ireland), 04:36-2nd period

        Nolan FitzPatrick (William Tripp), 02:54-3rd period

        Frank Ireland (Richard Hall), 19:46.4-3rd period

FPU: Cody Rumsey (Anthony Nikolopoulos), 09:57-1st period

        Michael Flaherty (Cody Rumsey and Chris Stevenson), 07:15-2nd period

        Josh Kippenhan, 12:54-3rd period

Goaltending

STO: Gavin FitzPatrick (59:57)-29 saves

FPU: Jeremy Connor (57:47)-28 saves

The Details

• After Franklin Pierce turned the puck over deep on Stonehill's side of the ice, Heath and Davies dished the puck off to Cady who flew up the ice. After he weaved his way past the Ravens defenders, he fired home a backhander that Connor stick side for the 1-0 lead with 11:40 left in the first.
• Shortly after at the 10:02 mark, Franklin Pierce knotted the contest at one but despite the tie, the Skyhawks responded with 6:34 remaining in the opening period. Davies rifled a shot from the blue line and Connor made the original save, Collins had another look but was also turned away. However, Pimental was in the right spot for the juicy rebound and put home the go-ahead goal as Stonehill took a 2-1 lead going into the second.
• Nearly five minutes into the second (15:26), Stonehill potted an insurance goal courtesy of Schwenninger. After Franklin Pierce tried to clear the puck behind their net, Ireland intercepted the pass and found an open Schwenninger in front of Connor who put home his ninth goal of the season. Ireland's assist is his 24th on the year and is the first Skyhawks to have at least 20 assists since 2015 (Robbie Dorgan'16). When Ireland has dished out at least one assist, Stonehill is 12-1-2.
• The Ravens once again knocked the lead back to one (3-2) after Flaherty scored with 12:44 remaining in the second. For the rest of the frame, both sides played hard but FitzPatrick held the Ravens scoreless the rest of the frame with three stops.
• In the final period, Stonehill pulled back ahead by two (4-2) just 02:54 into the third after FitzPatrick received a lead pass from Tripp which allowed him to beat Connor one-on-one. However, Franklin Pierce did not go away as they trimmed the deficit to one for the third time of the night courtesy of Kippenhan. Despite pulling back within one again, Ireland potted an empty net goal with 14 seconds left for the eventual 5-3 win.

Up Next

Stonehill hits the road for its longest road trip of the season when the Skyhawks travel to Lindenwood (Mo.) University for a two-game set starting on Friday, February 10 with puck drop set for 8:10 p.m. EST.

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