Men’s Hockey Handles Framingham State, 5-0

EAST BOSTON – Five different player scored, a bakers' dozen produced a point and CJ Hapward turned aside all 20 shots he faced to send Suffolk men's hockey to a convincing 5-0 win over Framingahm State Tuesday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Framingham State 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-5-2) | Framingham State (1-11-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk capitalized on the first penalty of the day as Jake Grace poured in a goal with help from Jack Robinson and Michael McEachern 4:14 into the middle period. Matt Pimental won the face-off and the Rams took their time to work the puck at the top of FSU's zone. Grace saw the prime opportunity to catch Owen Sawnbon off guard and took advantage as the sophomore found the back of the cage to give the host the upper hand early on.  

Jack Kircher doubled the distance with 1:29 remaining before the second intermission. He slapped the puck away thanks to set-ups by Joe O'Brien and Tyler Borys to send Suffolk into the locker room up 2-0.  

Momentum remained in the blue-and-gold's favor as Pimental poured in a goal of his own 1:30 into the third period. Gracer and Will MacNeil aided in the marker that extended Suffolk's edge to 3-0.  

Suffolk's scoring did not stop there as it logged two more strikes over a 22-second span late in the third. First, O'Brien put away the puck before Daniel McKiernan chipped in a goal to lengthen the lead to 5-0 with 4:29 remaining in regulation. Josh Milso and Scott McManus assisted on O'Brien's marker, while Phil Feinberg and Nolan Leonard had a hand in McKiernan's strike.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Hapward registered a 20-save shutout. 
• Swabon notched 32 stops in the setback.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Grace and O'Brien both finished with two points on identical one-goal, one-assist stat lines.  
• Kircher, McKiernan, and Pimental produced one goal each. 
• McEacher, Borys, MacNeil, Milso, McManus, Feinberg and Leonard logged one assist each. 
• Suffolk outshot Framingham State, 37-20. 
• The Boston Rams won the face-off battle, 46-17. 
• Suffolk went 1-for-2 on the power play and was not whistled for a single penalty.   

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Framingham State renewed a rivalry, meeting for the first time since 2010. 
• The Boston Rams coupled back-to-back wins over FSU for the first time since it strung three wins in a row from Jan. 20, 2007 to Jan. 24, 2009. 
• Suffolk has poured in at least three games in the last 10 meetings with Framingham State including tonight's meeting. 
• The five goals scored versus Framingham State was the most by Suffolk since a 5-4 victory Jan. 24, 2009. 
• Since 1999-00, the Suffolk is 9-6-2 all-time.
• At home, Suffolk is now 7-2-0 versus FSU. 
• The battled between Suffolk and Framingham State ended in a stalemate for the third time dating back to 1999. 
• It is the first cleansheet between Suffolk and Framingham State since the Boston Rams blanked FSU 8-0 Jan. 26, 2008. 
• When a team is kept off the scoreboard Suffolk is now 2-1-0 versus Framingham State. 
• Hapward had his fifth shutout of the season and sixth of his Suffolk career. 
• Grace, McKiernan and O'Brien both scored their second goals of the season. 
• Grace had a career-high in points with a pair. 
• O'Brien had his first multi-point game of the campaign. 
• Robinson and McEachern dished out their third and fifth assists, respectively. 
• Borys and Feinberg produced their second assists of the season. 
• Kircher and Pimental both netted their first goals of the year. 
• MacNeil and Nolan both recorded their first points of the season on an assist. 
• Milso notched his third assist of the year. 
• McManus tallied his fourth assist of the season.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk turns its attention to its Conference of New England (CNE) calendar that picks back up Friday, Jan.1 7 at No. 12 UNE at 7:00 p.m.