KEENE, N.H. — Despite Blake Alexander (Mansfield, Conn.) and Francis Rose (Clarkston, Mich.) recording two points each, the Western Connecticut State University men's ice hockey dropped a tough 5-4 game in a Little East Conference (LEC) game against Keene State College on Saturday. The Wolves moved to 0-6-0 overall and 0-3-0 in the league, while the Owls improved to 4-2-0 and 1-2-0.

In the first six and a half minutes of regulation, the Owls netted two goals before back-to-back tallies by Alexander and Blake Andreoni (Plantation, Fla.)across three minutes of action knotted the score at two apiece. After taking over the puck along the far side of the ice, WestConn made the steal before Tyler Blassingame (Allen, Texas) passed the puck to Victor-Antoine Fortier (Sherbrooke, Quebec) before the tip-in by Alexander. In the defensive zone, Camden Carver (Flat Rock, Mich.) collected the puck followed by a quick pass to Alexander in the neutral zone, which allowed Andreoni to be left alone in the attacking zone for the equalizer.

Rose gave the Wolves their first lead of the night off assists from Victor Gonzalez (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Cyril Jebousek (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) at 12:54 in the first period. Jebousek brought the puck into the scoring zone from their defensive end before a two-on-one situation allowed Rose to put the visitors up, 3-2. Keene State capitalized on the short-handed Wolves to even the score at three. Chase Carney netted his second consecutive goal for the hosts 49 seconds into the second stanza for the one-point lead.

Francis scored his second goal of the contest at 11:30 in the second stanza off the helpers from Tyler Gobel (Lindon, N.J.) and Dante Debueriis (Port Washington, N.Y.) to tie the game at four. Francis battled along the boards to force an Owl to send the puck along the sides to Phil Parker (Rehoboth, Mass.) who passed the puck to Debueriis as the first-year dumped the puck to Gobel behind the blueline before returning the puck to Francis in front of the net. Carney tallied his third to net the eventual game-winner at 17:31 in the second period.

The Wolves remain on the road for an LEC contest against New England College on November 21 at 7 p.m.