Men’s ice hockey triumphs over Rivier University

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

By Avery Slavin Staff Writer The Framingham State Rams were victorious over the Rivier Raiders in a conference matchup Jan. 24. This brings their overall record to 5-11 and their conference record to 2-4. Assistant captain Scott Bugarin, a junior, won the initial faceoff, but Rivier took the first shot of the game, though it was too wide to make it in the net. After another wide shot from Rivier, senior goaltender Owen Swanbon was able to save the next two goal attempts from the Raiders. Sophomore Zacharias Pappas and senior Luke Yubeta took the opportunity to shoot the puck, but were unable to put points on the board for the Rams. Rivier sent the puck straight to Swanbon, who didn’t let up on his defense and saved it. Bugarin fired back with a shot of his own, but it was saved by Rivier’s goaltender, Mason Meyer. Freshman Jeremy Zecher gained possession of the puck and sent it toward Meyer, but couldn’t get past his pads. Just seconds later, freshman Jonas Oesterle tried again to get the first point of the game, but was unsuccessful. The Rams upped their efforts and started getting more aggressive on offense, not allowing the Raiders to get a shot in for an entire 2 minutes. Shots from Yubeta, Bugarin, junior Brent Scott, seniors Sam Larkin, Jerry Duckett, and Captain Jake Barcelou were all strong, but unsuccessful. When Rivier finally gained possession of the puck, they were able to fire two shots toward Swanbon, who saved them with ease. Swanbon saved two more shots from Rivier before the Rams got their first power play. Framingham sent a steady stream of shots toward Rivier’s defense, but all seven were unable to reach the back of the net. After the power play, Duckett attempted to finish the first period with a goal, but the puck went just outside of the net. Within the first 30 seconds of the second period, Larkin slapped the puck toward the Raiders’ defense, but still couldn’t put the first point on the board. With help from Yubeta and freshman Grig Kaagan, Zecher was then able to score the first goal of the game. Riding this momentum, Framingham stayed aggressive on offense. Bugarin won the faceoff following the goal, and the Rams didn’t let the Raiders get the puck near the net. After trading possession of the puck for the next few minutes, a power play began in favor of the Rams. After three unsuccessful shots in a row from Framingham, Larkin was able to slap the puck past Meyer’s defense, scoring the Rams' second goal. Larkin sent the puck toward the net with the intention of beginning the last period with a third point, but Meyer didn’t allow it. The Raiders matched Framingham’s aggressive energy and were able to score the first point for Rivier. The Rams weren’t shaken and made three goal attempts during their next power play, none of which got past Meyer. Due to a roughing penalty on Framingham, Rivier was able to take advantage of their following power play, firing four shots toward the net, but none of them got far enough to earn them a point. The Raiders didn’t stop there and kept playing assertively, but not strongly enough to get their next three shots past Swanbon. Although the next power play was in favor of Rivier, Zecher broke Meyer’s defense and scored an unassisted goal. Swanbon kept the puck away from the back of the net three times in a row before the Raiders got their final power play, when they scored their second and last point. The final period ended with a score of 3-2 in favor of the Rams. Swanbon said, “We knew Rivier was going to be desperate and come at us hard, especially when they scored early in the third period, but we didn’t panic. We stuck to our structure, trusted each other, and stayed disciplined defensively. Our ability to do that in a close game was huge in securing the win.” Most recently, the Rams fell to the Anna Maria Amcats on home ice Jan. 29, bringing their overall record to 5-12 and their conference record to 2-5. Framingham will host the Westfield State Owls in a conference matchup Jan. 31.