Re: Thursday Night Scores - Don't Burn this Notice!
Following up on the Fitchburg-Salem game (
box score here):
I said last week after Fitchburg's win over Framingham that this would shape up to be a very entertaining game. Well, they didn't disappoint. Fitchburg and Salem came out firing, scoring six goals in the first (which you can see a few posts above).
Fitchburg has played sloppy hockey in a lot of second periods this season, and tonight was no different. Salem absolutely dominated the second period, outshooting Fitchburg 15-4. Ian Flanagan got the only goal of the period for Salem with a snipejob on Bobby Vorse (or Vorges, as the Salem announcers kept calling him) that no defender seemed to want to do anything about. Salem had plenty of other chances to put it away in the second, but Vorse was solid.
The only goal in the third occurred no more than 10 seconds in, when Chris Costigan apparently got a breakway, whiffed on the shot, and still beat Sam Avoine (the video feed was broken). After that, each team exchanged plenty of quality scoring chances the rest of the way, with Vorse and Avoine being soild in net to keep the game tied.
Just like the first meeting between these two back in November, this game went to overtime. The Falcons and Vikings continued to keep exchanging scoring chances before John Vets put in a rebound to give Fitchburg State the overtime win.
From what I saw from the goaltenders, Vorse was solid in the second half of the game after leaving much to be desired in the first thirty minutes (possibly rust, it had been Vorse's first start in two weeks). With Bobby Leiser's strong performances last week, it looks like Vorse and Leiser will split time evenly down the stretch, with Leiser probably getting the start on Saturday against Westfield State. Avoine played fairly well, although he has shown signs of inconsistency since being thrust into the starting role. I can't say whether Avoine hasn't been playing consistently well enough lately or if the defense isn't doing enough to help, but Salem is going to need to hammer out any kinks in the defense/goaltending if they want to hold onto a top two position in the standings (along with a bye in the postseason tournament that comes with it).
Goalscorers:
FIT: Chris Riggs (8), Chris Costigan (7, 8), Andrew Hutton (7), John Vets (9, GW)
SAL: Damen Nisula (6), Chris MacInnis (9), Mike Genovese (2), Ian Flanagan (2)
Goaltenders:
FIT: Bobby Vorse (W, 5-2-1, 39/43)
SAL: Sam Avoine (L, 2-3-0, 23/28)
SOG:
FIT: 28
SAL: 43
Fitchburg State improves to 10/11-3-1 (6-2 MASCAC) with the win and will play another tough game against Westfield State on Saturday. Salem State falls to 7-6-1 (6-2-1 MASCAC) and will get a good chance to rebound against Framingham State on Saturday.
Well, that's my analysis on the Fitchburg-Salem game. Didn't mean to turn it into a recap, but I got carried away.
