Springfield, MA – The men's hockey team used a strong third period comeback to trim a four-goal deficit to two, but ultimately fell, 6-3, Friday evening to host Western New England. With the win the Golden Bears improve to 6-3-0, while the Roos drop to 1-9-1.

The hosts got on the board first at the 14:22 mark of the first period when John Kelly fed Brian Prost for the score. With just four seconds remaining in the opening frame Western New England added a power play marker from Matt Dore to seize the momentum leading 2-0 after the first. Chris Lembo and Andrew Cramer tallied helpers on the play.

Just 14 seconds into the second period the Roos shifted the momentum in their favor with their first line on the ice. J.R. Lafferty (Williamstown, NJ) assisted Cory Giczewski's (Fountain Valley, CA) team-leading fifth goal of the season. The Golden Bears added two more second period scores from Will Preston and Lembo to open up a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

The Golden Bears took a four-goal lead at 5-1, 4:40 into the third period when Prost recorded his second score of the game, this time unassisted. The Roos remained tough scoring back-to-back goals over the next six plus minutes. Sean Gallagher (Cape Cod, MA) lit the lamp for the first time this season off passes from Lafferty and Nils Semjonovs (Liepaja, Latvia). The SUNY Canton penalty kill unit came up big as Dave Schneider (Indianapolis, IN) fed Kristian Leach (Indianapolis, IN) for a short-handed marker to get the Roos within 5-3.

With 48 seconds remaining SUNY Canton pulled goaltender Christopher Marsillo (Lincroft, NJ) in favor of the extra skater as Western New England added an empty net goal from Eric Gethers. Marsillo turned aside 33 shots for SUNY Canton, while Eric Sorenson made 29 saves for the hosts. The Roos had a strong third period outshooting the Golden Bears 14-12.

The men's hockey team will have a quick turnaround as they return to the ice Saturday at 4:40 p.m. when they take on host Becker College.