Hefferle Scores Twice, Leads Men’s Ice Hockey Past Post University 6-1

WATERBURY, Conn. (November 22, 2022) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team erupted for six goals, including three in the final 20 minutes of the game, downing the hosting Eagles of Post University by a final score of 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

Records:

• Western New England: 3-6
• Post University: 3-5

How it Happened:
Coming off an upset victory over 14^th ranked Curry College, the Western New England men's ice hockey team battelled the Eagles of Post University in a rare mid-afternoon weekday tilt. Western New England looked to use the momentum from their win last Saturday coming into today's game. The Golden Bears started with a lead when Billy Hefferle capitalized on his third goal of the season. Dalton Garcia would cross the offensive zone with the puck and would then feed a pass through the Post defense to Jason Diamond, who then found Hefferle open across the crease and the senior would rip the puck past the glove of Drew Blodgett and into the net, giving Western New England the 1-0 lead. The Golden Bears would see the Eagles roar back and would score a goal in the late stages of the first period. Nick Weber and Robert Carr would assist Brandon Crowther on Post's goal to even the score at one heading into the first intermission. Western New England would take 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes of play while Post came away with nine shots on goal, while WNE goalkeeper Colten Lancaster made eight saves. 

Western New England would see the puck skip in their favor for most of the second period which would reward then with an any powerplay tally to retake the lead. Shane Miller would make a quick pass over to John D'Aniello, who took a quick shot on goal which produced a heafty rebound for a chance from Matt Dougherty who took a backhand shot that fell into the net to give Western New England a 2-1 lead. Dougherty collects his first career goal with Western New England to put the Golden Bears ahead. While the play went back and forth through the midway point of the second period, Western New England saw their best chance come with just over four minutes remaining in the period and would capitalize on their chance, scoring their third goal of the game and taking their first two goal lead of the period. Jason Diamond would find Billy Hefferle in front of the goal. Hefferle would take a shot that would cause for a scramble in front of the goal while the puck jetted free at the tops of the circles. Tanner Coleman would pounce of the loose puck and send it into the open cage to give Western New England a two-goal lead. Colten Lancaster made all ten saves in the second period while the Golden Bears took six shots on goal in the period, putting two in the net. 

After killing off two penalties to open the third period, Western New England would come away with another powerplay chance and another powerplay goal, extending their two-goal lead to a three-goal lead with 16 minutes to play in the third period. Demitrios Stefanou would win a big faceoff which would then lead to puck movement by the Golden Bears. Shane Miller would handle the puck and take a shot right on goal which would be deflected down and into the net by Billy Hefferle, who scores his second goal of the game and notches his third overall point, giving the Golden Bears a 4-1 lead. 
Colten Lancaster would stand tall for Western New England at the midway point of the third period after Post would collect seven saves in a three-minute span to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard. Western New England would get on the scoreboard again in the contest when Kyle Knight made a toe drag dangle and buried a steaming wrist shot into the top right corner of the net to give Western New England a 5-1 lead. Cam Gaylor and Matt Dougherty would collect assists on the goal for WNE. Everest Schneider would pick up the Golden Bears final goal of the afternoon when Peter Izzo would go two-on-one with his teammate, sending a cross-crease pass to Schneider who buried the puck into the goal to give the Golden Bears a huge five goal lead which would be the final score of the afternoon as Western New England would defeat Post 6-1. Shane Miller would pick up another assist from WNE collecting his third of the afternoon.

Inside the Lines:

• WNE saw Billy Hefferle collect two goals and one assist on the afternoon, grabbing three points in the win. 
• Both Matt Dougherty and Kyle Knight came away with a goal and an assist each in the win while Jason Diamond also contributed for two points, picking up two assists. Shane milled picked up three assists for Western New England.
• GK Colten Lancaster made 32 saves while allowing just one goal on the afternoon to win his second straight game of the year. 
• Post would outshoot Western New England 33-31 though the WNE defense would come up big, along with Lancaster to keep the Golden Bears in the win column. 
• WNE is now 4-0 all-time against Post University. 
• The Golden Bears score six goals in a game for the first time since January 13, 2019 against Anna Maria. 
• 12 Golden Bears registered at least one point in the win. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• After winning two straight, Western New England takes a week and a half off before returning to the Olympia Ice Center on Friday, December 2 at 8:00 to get back into CCC play when Nichols College visits West Springfield. 
• Post heads to Wesleyan (Conn.) University on Saturday, November 26 at 7:00 pm.