WESTFIELD, Mass. – Goaltender Jari Stacher made 49 saves in his collegiate debut, but little else went right for the Keene State College men's ice hockey team in a Wednesday afternoon matinee as the Owls fell 5-0 to Westfield State University at Amelia Park Ice Arena.

KSC (5-6-0) will hope that their first two home games coming this Friday and Saturday will begin to turn things around in the new calendar year, as after a month off, the Owls have allowed 11 goals in a pair of road games in Massachusetts over the last two days.  Today, only two of the five Westfield (9-4-0) goals came at even strength, with two others coming on Keene State power plays, which was 0-for-4 and now 6-for-39 on the season.

Despite a wide 23-7 shot advantage in the opening 20 minutes, it took Westfield until there were 40 seconds left in the period to light the lamp as Brett Williams scored on a power play for a 1-0 advantage.  KSC had nearly a full two minute power play chance save for 10 seconds of 4-on-4 with a chance to even the game less than six minutes into the second period, but instead found their deficit double when Cooper Board found Xavier Tremblay for a shorthanded goal that made it 2-0 with 14:02 to go in the period.  Aiden Winslow made a pair of saves over the rest of the man advantage to prevent the Owls from getting the goal back – but Stacher also had to make two more stops before the penalty expired and one more 11 seconds after it did.  It was that kind of day for KSC, who was outshot 43-17 through two periods and trailed 3-0.  On three power play chances, two of which came in the second and another that came with a fresh sheet of ice to start the third, the shots were even at 5-5 as the visitors were unable to gain any momentum nor make a dent into the three-goal deficit.  KSC had the better of the shots (13-11) in the final 20 minutes, but never broke through Winslow who engineered a 30-save shutout, and the home team added two late goals to set the final margin including another shorthanded with 27 seconds left.

Westfield finished 1-for-3 on the power play – but had a 16-0 shots edge on those man advantages.

Stacher, a native of Uttwil, Switzerland, had an impressive collegiate debut and likely deserved a better fate, finishing with 49 saves in 59:57.

"Overall a very disappointing and frustrating game today," said KSC head coach Bobby Rodrigue as the Owls fell under .500 for the first time on the season and to 2-4 on the road.  "But we should not ignore that Jari Stacher was outstanding in his debut for us."

Keene State was coming off a high-scoring overtime loss at Fitchburg State University on Monday in which they scored five goals, but today was blanked for the second time this season, the other coming in a 3-0 home defeat against LEC opponent University of Southern Maine on November 8 that dropped the Owls to 2-2.  KSC rebounded with back-to-back wins to avoid falling under .500, but has dropped four of their last five since, the only win a 3-2 decision against King's College (Pa.) at home on December 5.

A critical home Little East Conference weekend awaits as the Owls take on the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Friday at 7:30 p.m. and the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.  KSC is currently tied with UMD for eighth in the league with three points, their lone win against last-place Western Connecticut State University, while UMB has six points and is currently occupying the sixth and final playoff spot in the standings.