PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Trailing 2-1 with less than three minutes to go, the Wesleyan men's hockey team mounted a late comeback with two goals in a 56-second span to defeat a strong Plymouth State squad, 3-2, on the road Friday night. The Cardinal heroics came off the sticks of DJ Dixon '24 who scored the game-tying goal and Emmet Powell '23 who lit the lamp for the game-winner with two minutes left. Wesleyan (4-3-1) has won three straight while denying the Panthers (8-2-1) who came in unbeaten in their last eight and winners of six straight prior to tonight.
 
After a three-game skid, Wesleyan is on the up-and-up as the Cardinals win their third straight, all of which were decided in the final minutes. Wesleyan started the win streak with a 4-3 OT win over Hamilton last Friday and followed with a 4-3 win over Amherst that saw the Cardinals fire in the game-winner with just 3:20 remaining. The last rendition is perhaps the most impressive as this last minute, come-from-behind win came at Plymouth State in front of a home crowd of 650+ on-hand for the Panthers' annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Hundreds of teddy bears hit the ice following the first Plymouth State goal, all of which will be donated to the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD) to benefit families in need during the holiday season.
 
It was a fast start for the visitors as Wesleyan struck first with Mike Dunderdale '23 firing in his first career goal just over five minutes into play. Stevie O'Connor '22 won the puck along the far boards and nudged a pass to Vaclav Hes '24 at the point who whipped a pass cross-ice to his D-partner Dunderdale. With time to shoot, Dunderdale fired a wrister that went over Kalle Andersson's left shoulder in net, into the upper right corner to make it 1-0 Wesleyan.
 
Plymouth State answered back just six minutes later with a well-worked goal as Colin Tracy raced to the puck along the near boards and dumped it in for Anton Nasstrom who centered for Ethan Stuckless in the slot. With little time to react, Erik Voloshin '24 couldn't cover the left post as Stuckless fired in the goal which kickstarted the teddy bear toss for the home faithful.
 
Wesleyan had their chances in the second period as the Cardinals outshot the Panthers 12-8, including a couple of strong power play opportunities that saw Wesleyan fire seven shots on-target only to see them all turned aside by Andersson. After not seeing any chances come to fruition, a bit of bad luck followed for the Cardinals as Plymouth State scored the go-ahead goal on the power play as a low wrist shot from the point deflected off the foot of a Cardinal skater and past Voloshin up high.
 
Trailing by a goal late in the third period, all the sustained pressure ultimately paid off for Wesleyan as the game-tying goal was also the first of Dixon's career and it came with just 2:56 left. Matt Zandi '21, G'22 possessed behind the Cardinal net, flinging the puck up-ice to his defensive partner Jake Lachance '23 who backhanded a saucer pass to Dixon heading up-ice. Carrying into the Panther defensive zone, Dixon had the puck nudged off his stick but that led to Andersson overplaying Dixon's momentum heading to his left. With an open left side of the net to shoot at, Dixon recovered the puck and made no mistake, hitting the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2.
 
Not content with the tie, Wesleyan continued to push forward and stunned the Plymouth State side with the go-ahead marker just 56 seconds later. Sustaining even strength pressure in the Panther defensive end, O'Connor did well to win the puck behind the net as Colin Cobb '23 floated a pass back to Powell at the point. The puck came cross-ice over to Tiger Bjornlund '24 who took his time before giving back to Powell. The right-handed defenseman set up a wrist shot that made its way through heavy traffic and over Andersson's right shoulder as the Panther home crowd was left stunned, seeing their side go from leading to trailing in a span of 56 seconds.
 
The Panthers pulled the goalie with just over a minute left and sustained heavy pressure by Voloshin, just a sophomore, stood tall with four saves in the final minute including a heavy wrister from Niks Krollis in the slot that the goalie needed to squeeze between his right arm and chest pads to preserve the win for the Cardinals.
 
Powell notched his team-leading fourth goal of the season while also recording his first game-winner of 2021-22. Dunderdale and Dixon both scored their first career goals in the win. Cobb tallied an assist on Powell's game-winner to give him seven helpers on the season while upping his point streak to four straight games. Voloshin made 24 saves in net while moving to 3-1 in his four starts this season.
 
Wesleyan rides a three-game win streak into winter break as the Cardinals won't be back in action until Friday, January 7 when they play host to Williams at 7 PM.