DANBURY, Conn. — In the inaugural game for the Western Connecticut State University men's ice hockey team, Phil Parker (Rehoboth, Mass.) netted the equalizer to force overtime in a thrilling 5-4 loss against the nearby Albertus Magnus College Falcons on Friday. The Wolves open the campaign 0-1, while Albertus improved to 1-0.

Scott McNulty (Williamstown, N.J.) opened the scoring and capitalized off the shorthanded Falcons at 9:14 in the first period. After back-to-back shots by Francis Rose (Clarkston, Mich.), McNulty recovered the puck following a scrum in front of the net to put the Wolves up, 1-0. Four minutes later, Peter Keese knotted the game at 13:22 off the pass from Bailey Kirwin.

Albertus took a 2-1 lead at 11:31 in the second period off a goal by Aleksy Bandu before McNulty scored again this time from Tyler Gobel (Lindon, N.J.) and Rose to maintain a tied game a minute later. Rose intercepted a pass in the Falcons' scoring zone before sending it to the neutral zone, where Gobel brought it to the scoring zone and passed it left to McNulty at 12:48 in the second.

Chris Hamilton (Ridgefield, Conn.) added another goal for WestConn for the 3-2 edge with assists from Jordan Blais (Enfield, Conn.) and Tony Morran (Boca Raton, Fla.) at 14:55 in the second. The lead was short-lived as Charles Lavoie knotted the game at 3-3 1:22 into the final period. Connor Bertamini gave Albertus' first lead of the contest, but Parker connected with the netting with 32 seconds remaining in the third period. The Wolves pulled goaltender Liam Lane (Castle Rock, Colo.) for the added offensive advantage, which paid off in the final seconds of regulation.

Zane Kindrachuck scored the game-winning goal at 4:08 in overtime.

Lane made 33 saves for Westconn, while Chace Hale stopped 21 shots for the visitors. The Falcons outshot the Wolves 68-43, with 38-25 shots on goal advantage. WestConn converted on both of its powerplays, while Albertus went 1-3 against the shorthanded hosts.

WestConn travels to its first road game at Post University on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. puck drop at the Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton, Conn.