Men’s Ice Hockey Ties
SALEM – Salem State and Suffolk skated to a 4-4 tie on Thursday evening at Rockett Arena. The Rams erased a 4-0 deficit to force overtime as Stanton Turner (San Francisco, CA) tied the game for the Suffolk midway through the third. The Vikings are now 4-4-2 on the season while the Rams go to 3-7-4.
In the first period, the Vikings took an early 1-0 lead after freshman Callum Hofford (Woodbridge, ON) scored on assists by senior Brandon Platt (Pittsburgh, PA) and junior Casey Miller (Billerica, MA). Salem State extended their lead to 2-0 after sophomore Aleksi Mustaniemi (Vihti, Finland) scored through the five-hole from junior Derek Makimaa’s (Swartz Creek, MI) assist.
In the second period, the Vikings went up 3-0 after Brandon Platt (Pittsburgh, PA) scored unassisted at the 10:11 mark, followed by junior Mackenzie Cook’s (Reading, MA) goal from sophomore Emile Levesque (Lac Beauport, Quebec). Kevin Venturoso (Franklin, Mass.) replaced starting goalie Will Ribas (Westwood, MA) after the fourth Vikings’ goal.
At 5:31 however, Suffolk got themselves on the board for the first time when sophomore Sean Henry (Trumbull, CT) fired a slap shot past Salem State netminder Jason Pucciarelli (Newmarket, ONT), assisted by sophomore Justin Holliday (Stow, OH), and senior Danyil Medvedev (Boston, MA).
The game suddenly became close at 4-2 as the Rams scored a power play goal from sophomore Connor Parent (Danvers, MA) at 16:41 with Medvedev tallying another assist along with sophomore Tommy Bishop (Chelmsford, MA).
Five and a half minutes into the third period, the lead for SSU was reduced to one after junior Jack Jenkins (Billerica, MA) scored from seniors Brett Lawson (Milford, MA) and Stanton Turner (San Francisco, CA).
At 8:37, after being down 4-0 in the second, the Rams tied it up when Turner scored from junior Shayne Bailey (Quincy, MA) and Brett Lawson (Milford, M) as Turner used a bad angle to slip the puck behind Pucciarelli.
After a hard fought third period, with Suffolk leading 35-33 in shots on goal, the game went to overtime, ending in an unsatisfying tie.
At the end of the wild night, both teams combined for a total of 90 penalty minutes with four misconducts and one game misconduct being handed out. Pucciarelli made 33 saves while Ribas and Venturoso combined for 35 stops.
The next game for the Vikings is on December 10th at Endicott at 1:40PM. For the Rams, they’ll play Franklin Pierce at Suffolk University at 7:30PM on January 7th.
Woman’s Basketball Wins
SALEM — A late steal by Saran Kaba (Dorchester, MA) set up Norma Waggett (Saugus, MA) for an easy bucket that sealed a 59-51 victory over the Panthers of Plymouth State Thursday night at the Twohig Gymnasium.  Salem State improves to 6-3 on the year while Plymouth State slips to 1-6.
Kaitlyn Bryan (Lowell, MA) sparked the Salem State offense early, leading a 9-0 opening run as she tallied seven quick points. The Vikings found their success down low as they outscored Plymouth State 12-4 in the paint, opening a 30-16 at the half. Bryan finished the first-half with 16 points on 5-7 shooting while knocking down two three-pointers in the process.
Salem State did run into some foul trouble as they accumulated 11 total fouls. However, the Panthers only shot 5-12 (42%) from the line which contributed to the large deficit at the half.
The Panthers completely turned it around midway through the second half as Leah Swanson (Atkinson, NH) energized her squad by doing everything possible on floor. After a quiet three points in the first half, Swanson scored 16 points in the second while applying an enormous amount of pressure to the Vikings’ ball handlers.
Swanson led Plymouth State on a 12-0 run that brought the game to a 51-51 tie as she added nine points during the stretch.
As a team, the Panthers improved drastically from the field as they shot 12% better in the final half. However, Salem State’s Kaba stole the ball with :37 on the clock that led to a Waggett bucket in transition to seal the win. Salem State also knocked down four consecutive free throws to secure the 59-51 win.
Swanson finished with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals while Annaliese Schmidt (Newmarket, NH) and Kayla Wyland (Melrose, MA) both contributed with seven points and 10 rebounds each.
Bryan led all scorers with 24 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Waggett contributed with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the win.
Both teams season continue on Dec. 10 as the Vikings host Endicott College at 3 p.m. while UMass Dartmouth travels to Plymouth to take on the Panthers at 1:00 p.m.
