Baker, Barbieri, Doucette notch two points each

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (February 8, 2013) – As Winter Storm Nemo began to pummel the region on Friday afternoon, the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team set about creating a blizzard of offense in Cairns Arena. Though Saint Michael's survived for much of the contest against a barrage that saw Franklin Pierce pile up a 49-16 advantage in shots on goal, freshman co-captain Michelle Stock (Austin, Texas) put away her first career goal with just 3:06 to play to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Ravens to a 3-2 victory.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 6-12-0, while Saint Michael's falls to 1-19-1 (1-16-0 ECAC East). Franklin Pierce is in the Green Mountain State for a two-game weekend set, which the two teams will complete on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cairns Arena.

Tied at 2-2 coming out of the second intermission, each team had power-play opportunities in the first half of the final frame, but failed to covert. Saint Michael's successfully killed off a minor penalty early in the period, then drew a power-play of its own less than 30 seconds later. The Ravens defense would turn aside three shots from the Purple Knights power-play unit before drawing a penalty of their own which evened the manpower situation and led to an abridged man advantage for Franklin Pierce, which also went by the boards.

The game remained tied at 2-2 until the 16:54 mark of the third, when Stock put away her first goal of the season off an assist from freshman forward Haylea Barbieri (Plainville, Mass.). The goal left Saint Michael's with little time to find another equalizer and the comeback chances seemed further diminished when sophomore forward Kristen Spulecki was whistled for tripping with 1:42 to play. However, just 35 seconds later, freshman forward Colleen Doucette (Wakefield, Mass.) was called for roughing, short-circuiting the power-play and allowing Saint Michael's to pull the goaltender for an extra attacker. In a final flurry of offense, the Purple Knights got off four shot attempts in the final minute, but all four were knocked down by the Franklin Pierce defense before they got to the net, preserving the 3-2 lead.

Earlier in the afternoon, after a scoreless first, each team scored twice in the second stanza. At the 1:21 mark, junior forward Macey Thomas opened the scoring for Saint Michael's with her team-leading fourth goal of the season, unassisted.

Franklin Pierce responded with a pair of power-play goals through the middle portion of the middle frame. At the 5:30 mark, the team-leading 10th of the campaign for Doucette tied the game at 1-1 off assists from Barbieri and freshman forward Karsyn Baker (Detroit, Mich.). Just over six minutes later, at 11:58, freshman forward Michaela Faia (Malden, Mass.) gave the Ravens a 2-1 lead with her ninth of the year, off a setup by Doucette and Baker, who each notched their second point of the afternoon.

This time Saint Michael's had the answer, only 3:19 later, on the fourth of the year for senior forward Madelena Santore. Spulecki and senior forward Melissa Hallisey picked up the helpers at 15:17 to tie the game at 2-2 and set up the third-period dramatics.

Freshman goaltender Amelea Gray (Bozeman, Mont.) made 14 saves to pick up the win (6-11-0) in net for Franklin Pierce. Senior Erin Stevens stopped 46 shots but was saddled with the loss (1-17-1) in front of the Saint Michael's goal.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).