Men's Hockey Bracket

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Plymouth State Panthers have earned the top seed in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Ice Hockey Tournament which will begin on Saturday, February 28 with the quarterfinal round.

Joining the Panthers with a first round bye are the second seed Salem State Vikings. The two teams will await the winners of the quarterfinal games on Saturday. 

Third seed Fitchburg State will host sixth seed UMass Dartmouth in the first quarterfinal at 4 pm on Saturday while fourth seed Westfield State entertains fifth seed Worcester State at 5:35 pm Saturday. In the semifinal round, the winner of Fitchburg State/UMass Dartmouth will face off with Salem State at 7 pm and the winner of Westfield State/Worcester State will play Plymouth State at 6 pm with both games on Tuesday.

The winner of both semifinals will then play for the MASCAC Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 7 at the highest remaining seed.

Finishing the regular season 14-3-1 and the top seed in the Panthers will look to Andrew Wigg to help lead the team in the tournament. Wigg led the MASCAC with 15 goals this season and points per game with 1.45. Goalie Gordon Ceasar was strong between the pipes with a league leading winning percentage at .725 and second best in both goals against average (2.57) and save percentage (.915).

Landing the other first round bye with a 9-7-2 league record is Salem State. The freshman duo of Michael Casale and Jason Pucciarelli had a solid year for the Vikings. Casale finished the regular season with 11 goals and 4 assists while tying for second among freshman in points with 15. Pucciarelli lead the conference in goals against average (2.43) and was third in save percentage (.915).

Fitchburg State, in the third seed, closed out the regular season 8-8-2 in MASCAC play. Cameron Snyder and John Celli tied at the conclusion of the regular season with 23 points. Snyder tallied 13 goals and 10 assists while Celli had 12 goals and 11 assists. In goal, Ryan Wysocki was top in the conference in save percentage (.927) and third in goals against average (2.71).

Fourth seed Westfield State ended the regular season with an 8-8-2 record in conference play. Dalton Jay lead the Owls in points with 23 on 14 goals and nine assists. His 14 goals on the year were the second best in the conference at the end of regular season play.

Fifth seed Worcester State finished up regular season play with seven league wins.  Nathan Stanley was the leading goal and point scorer for the Lancers with 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points.

Grabbing the final spot in the tournament is UMass Dartmouth as the sixth seed. The Corsairs concluded the 2014-15 regular season with six wins in league play. Casey Shea and Mike Kelly were fourth and fifth in the league in point scoring. Shea tallied 27 points on eight goals and 19 assists while Kelly had seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points.

During the 2013-14 conference tournament, top seed Salem State took home the title with a 5-1 victory over second seed Plymouth State to advance to the NCAA Tournament.