Hookset, N.H. (2/21/23) – It was as good a time as any to end a three-game winless streak for the Franklin Pierce men's hockey team, as they bumped in-state rival Southern New Hampshire from the bracket with a 3-1 quarterfinal round victory at Ice Den Arena on Tuesday night.

Advancing to the conference semifinals, the Ravens improve to 11-19-2 (7-11-2 NE10) on the season following the opening round win. Southern New Hampshire's season comes to a close with a 10-17-0 (9-11-0 NE10) mark on the campaign.

The timing was just as good for the Ravens to open the scoring in the first period, as they found the back of the net just 00:15 into the action. Goal scorer Cody Rumsey (York, Pa.) started the play out of the Ravens defensive zone, and delivered a clean wrister that beat Penmen starter Adam Mercer over the right shoulder, making it 1-0 with his eighth goal of the season. The one-goal lead would carry over into the second period.

Rumsey would double-down with his second goal of the contest midway through the second period, after he followed up on his initial shot from the slot that was saved by Mercer, cashing in on his own rebound to make it 2-0 Ravens at 10:40. Just over two minutes later, Southern New Hampshire would respond off a crazy carom off the end glass behind Kyle Martin (Westford, Mass.), which found forward George Thurston at the side of the net to cut the Pierce lead down to 2-1. With 3:30 remaining in the stanza, the Penman would be the culprits of a late hooking penalty, sending Pierce to the power play. Just over a minute into the man advantage, graduate forward Anthony Nikolopoulos (Burlington, Mass.) made it 3-1 following a bounce off Cody Rumsey in front of the net, with the secondary assist going to graduate Chris Stevenson (Arvada, Colo.) from the initial shot. The Ravens would carry the 3-1 lead into the third, and eventually all the way to the final buzzer.

The third would remain scoreless for both teams, but Southern New Hampshire would out-shoot the Ravens by a 15-10 margin. Additionally, each team would be on the receiving end of a single penalty in the third, but neither would prove effective as both would be successfully killed off.

The quarterfinal win comes as the first time in two seasons that Pierce has advanced to the semifinals, with their last trip coming back in 2019-20.

Kyle Martin was rock-solid in net for the Ravens, stopping 51-of-52 shots faced to claim the first round victory for Pierce. Southern New Hampshire's Adam Mercer shouldered the loss for the Penmen after stopping 22-of-25 shots faced.

Up next, men's hockey will return to the Manchester area to clash with No.1 Saint Anselm College for the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Men's Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday, February 25^th at 4:00 p.m.