Della-Calce scores his first collegiate goal with 1:44 left in OT to give the Ravens back-to-back victories

Boxscore

MARLBORO, Mass. (January 4, 2008) – Sophomore Steve Della-Calce (East Stroudsburg, Pa./New Jersey Dynamo) scored his first career goal at 3:16 of overtime as Franklin Pierce University came back to defeat Becker College, 4-3, in a thrilling ECAC Northeast Conference men’s ice hockey contest on Friday night at the New England Sports Center.

With the Ravens sustaining pressure in the offensive zone, Della-Calce skated in from the left circle and one-timed a cross-ice pass from senior captain Joe Fields (Towamencin, Pa./Green Mountain Glades) into an open net to give the visitors their second ECAC Northeast win of the year and first overtime victory since a 5-4 win over Assumption College on Nov. 16, 2005.

Fields also added a goal for a two-point evening, while senior captain Pete Wilson (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) and freshman Sean Woodring (Rogue River, Ore./Eugene Generals) each recorded a goal and two assists for the Ravens. With his assist on Wilson’s second-period tally, Fields tied the school record of 41 assists set by Mark Gibbons ’06.

Freshman Jeremy Rossignolo (Rochester, N.Y./Springfield Pics) picked up his second consecutive victory in net for the Ravens by making 23 saves, including an excellent glove save on Robert Higgins (Grandville, Mich./Blind River Beavers) in the first period and a sprawling stop of a point-blank Higgins attempt in the second. Becker’s Tony Stoehr (DePere, Wisc./Wisconsin River Falls) kept his team in the game by making 37 stops.

Franklin Pierce held a decisive 41-26 advantage in shots on goal for the game. The Ravens controlled play for much of the evening after the opening 20 minutes, holding a commanding 30-14 shots-on-goal edge over the final 43:16 and keeping Becker to only four attempts in the third period.

Becker was led offensively by freshman Chris Miller (South Boston, Mass./South Kent School), who scored the team’s first two goals of the evening. Classmate Anthony Libonati (McMinnville, Ore./Blind River Beavers) also scored for the Hawks in the third period.

After Miller put his team up by two goals with his second of the night midway through the second period, Franklin Pierce scored twice on the man-advantage to even the game heading into the third. Penalties on Stoehr and Libonati gave the Ravens a two-man advantage, and Wilson notched his sixth goal of the year at 15:53 with a slapper from the left point that found its way through traffic in front. Fields then tied the game 1:06 later on the subsequent 5-on-4 power play, stuffing the puck home at the top of the crease after his initial attempt was blocked.

Libonati put the Hawks back on top 35 seconds into the third period, but the Ravens responded once more on the power play to knot the game at three at the 7:27 mark. Wilson again took a hard shot from the left point into traffic, but this time Woodring redirected the puck past Stoehr for his fourth tally of the season.

Franklin Pierce was superb on special teams against the Hawks, as the team scored on three of its eight power-play opportunities while holding Becker scoreless on five man-advantage chances. Wilson recorded all three of his points on the power play and now leads all ECAC Northeast skaters with 12 power-play points (6-6-12) on the year.

Franklin Pierce (4-9-0, 2-5-0 ECAC NE, 0-2-0 NE-10) will ride a two-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s Northeast-10 Conference matchup with Saint Anselm College, as the Ravens begin a four-game homestand at 7 p.m. against the Hawks. Becker (4-7-0, 2-3-0 ECAC NE) will take on Plymouth State University on Sunday at 8:45 p.m.