NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team opened the 2025-26 season with a 2-2 draw at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Friday evening in Foote Rink. While the contest officially ended in a tie, the Purple Knights captured an ensuing shootout, 2-0. The Purple and Gold played its first regular-season contest under new head coach
Jack Fitzgerald.
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RECORDS
- Saint Michael's (0-0-1), MCLA (0-0-1)
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS
- First-year Evan Dresser (Everett, Mass./Belmont Hill School), 1 goal, 1 assist, +1
- Junior Ty Bloom (Helena, Mont./Helena Bighorns), 1 goal, 12-for-23 faceoffs
- Senior Cole Manahan (Hermantown, Minn./Vernal Oilers), 41 saves
- Senior Jake Lincourt (Smithfield, R.I./Walpole Express), 6-for-9 faceoffs
- Senior Ashton Allain (Brentwood, Tenn./Walpole Express), 3 blocked shots, +1
- First-year Marshall Thomas (Canton, Mass./Ironwood Lumberjacks), 5-for-12 faceoffs
OPPONENT LEADERS
- Junior Luc Fricchione, 1 goal
- Junior Cade Herrera, 1 goal
- Sophomore Josh Girard, 37 saves
GAME FACTS
- The teams met in North Adams for the first time since Feb. 1, 2003.
- MCLA held narrow leads in shots (43-39) and faceoff wins (38-33).
THE ACTION
- MCLA went ahead 7:07 into the contest, with Fricchione tapping in junior Cody White's pass from along the goal line.
- Herrera doubled the lead 4:47 into the second frame, pushing home a loose puck after a scrum out front.
- Dresser played a hand in both goals during the Purple Knights' comeback, first spinning along his own blue line and whipping a pass off the boards to spring Bloom into the Trailblazer zone. After a quick stop-and-go move to shake a defender in the left circle, Bloom finished a shorthanded marker with four seconds left.
- Just 1:35 into the third period, Dresser's shot from the right point found the net for the equalizer. Seniors Nick Wracker (Columbia, S.C./Northeast Generals) and Jake Leale (Suffern, N.Y./Connecticut RoughRiders) assisted.
- Manahan made three saves in the final 2:23 to ensure overtime, and he rejected another five shots in the extra session to secure the tie.
- Sophomore Roman Winicki (Setauket, N.Y./Philadelphia Hockey Club) opened the shootout with a goal before Manahan denied both of MCLA's attempts. Sophomore Sj Lecomte (Port Monmouth, N.J./Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings) clinched the 2-0 victory by scoring on his team's third attempt.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME
