College Hockey:

ECAC Northeast/MASCAC wrap: Jan. 16

In two MASCAC games on Thursday and Saturday, Westfield State faced 66 shots on goal; simple math tells you that’s an average of 33 shots a game.

However, it’s a sharp deviation from what was becoming the norm for the Owls.

In a 4-0 loss Thursday at home to Plymouth State, Westfield State goalies Eddie Davey and Ian Wilson faced 34 shots, and two days later, in a 2-1 loss at Worcester State, Davey faced 32 shots.

Consider this: In Westfield State’s first 12 games, the Owls’ opponents averaged nearly 39 shots on goal a game (467 shots on goal), including two games in which Westfield State’s opponents had more than 50 shots on goal:

– Amherst’s 8-1 win Nov. 22 over Westfield State, in which Amherst put 54 shots on goal;
– A 3-3 tie Nov. 8 with Nichols, in which Nichols put 52 shots on goal.

Westfield State, however, has lost seven in a row entering Tuesday’s game at home against Framingham State.

Fatse gets chance
When Western New England goalie Eric Sorenson had a night off, T.J. Fatse got a chance to prove his worth.

In his first game in more than two months, Fatse, a junior goalie for the Golden Bears, made 46 saves — including 20 in the first period — Friday in a 1-0 win at Geneseo. Prior to Friday’s game, Fatse made eight saves in the third period of a 5-2 win Nov. 10 against Johnson and Wales.

Sorenson, a sophomore, is 11th in the nation among Division III goalies with a 2.03 saves percentage and tied for fourth in the nation with a .937 saves percentage.

Yet the Golden Bears (8-6) struggled at the start of the new year, having lost their first three games after the holiday break before Friday’s win at Geneseo.

Western New England resumes its ECAC Northeast schedule Wednesday at Johnson and Wales, which split a nonconference weekend series at home against Buffalo State.