WINCHENDON, Mass. (December 2, 2022) - In a must-win scenario, the Franklin Pierce men's hockey team put together a balanced effort in a 3-0 win at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena on Friday tonight, defeating opponent Post University. The victory opens a two-game weekend series between the two Northeast-10 Conference opponents. 

With the win, the Ravens move to 7-5 (4-3 NE10), while the Eagles fall to 3-8 (2-4 NE10), extending their losing streak to six games.

It was a back-and-forth first period where the Ravens outshot the Eagles 12-11. From the opening faceoff, both teams found their chances but could not find the back of the net. Nearing the end of the period, the Raven top line finally broke the ice on a goal from senior forward Jason Ladzinski (Norcross, Georgia), cashing in on a three-on-two breakout alongside Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colorado), who provided him with a great pass to bury it past Eagles netminder Drew Blodgett. 

As was also the case in the first period, the Ravens continued to receive early looks at the Post net, but came up empty on the scoreboard. The attention would then shift to the defensive side mid-way through the frame, as Pierce netminder Kyle Martin (Westford, Massachusetts) stood tall in net. With under two minutes left to go in the period, Chris Stevenson added some insurance for the Ravens after circling the offensive zone, which was followed with a quick wrist shot to the top right corner of the net to make 2-0 Franklin Pierce. The goal came unassisted, and things were looking good on the Ravens' side heading into the final period. 

The third period saw a heavy volume of shots from both sides, with the Ravens holding the edge 16-12. Early on, both sides started to show more aggressiveness with physical play, sparking some frustrations on the Post University side. At the 12:50 mark of the period, Dom Norris (Thurmont, Maryland) notched his first of the season on from the shot directly off the faceoff win from Cody Rumsey (York, Pennsylvania), icing the game 3-0.

Kyle Martin (5-3-0) picked up his first shutout of the 2022-2023 season as he made 28 saves. On the Post side of the ledger, Drew Blodgett (2-7-0) took the loss after making 33 saves against 36 shots.

The two teams will wrap up their weekend set on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.