The Fitchburg State ice hockey team dropped a tough 5-4 decision to the Vikings of Salem State this afternoon in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference action from Rockett Ice Arena in Salem.
Fitchburg State (8-5-0, 4-1-0 MASCAC) opened the scoring at the 8:12 mark of the first period as freshman Aleksei Filimonov (Saint Petersburg, Russia) gathered a feed from classmate Tye Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) and graduate student Christian Halbig (Queenstown, Md.) and fired a shot into the back of the net for his seventh tally on the season for the 1-0 lead.
Salem State knotted the score at 1-1 four minutes later when junior Mitch Wilkie (Calgary, Alberta) deposited a shot inside the near post off an assist from sophomore Michael Locke (Wakefield). The Vikings took the lead 40 seconds later with sophomore Henry Wilson (Winchester) receiving a pass from classmate Jon Waselko (Powell, Ohio) and putting a shot into the left side of the net for the 2-1 edge before senior Landyn Greatorex (Reading) pushed the margin to 3-1 in favor of the hosts at the 18:29 mark of the opening frame.
In the middle frame, the Viking extended the lead seven minutes into the period with Wilson finding the back of the net for his second marker of the contest as Wilkie and sophomore James Tatro (Salisbury) assisted on the play to make the 4-1.
The Falcons answered back two minutes later (4-2) when freshman John Mantone (Nashua, N.H.) gathered a feed from senior Jack Saavedra (Mishawaka, Ind.) and fired a shot into the lower right corner for his third score of the year.
The Green and Gold trimmed the deficit to 4-3 with just over four minutes remaining the frame as Saavedra blasted a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the 2025-26 campaign with assists from Mantone and junior Nicklas Millhorn (Brownstown, Mich.).
Salem State extended the lead to 5-3 with junior Chase Conlon (Anchorage, Alaska) tucking a shot inside the near post at the 16:53 marker before Fitchburg State closed the scoring one minute later when junior Hunter Dunn (Douglas) settled a pass from Halbig and newcomer Devin Niles (Hatfield) and deposited a shot into the back of the net for his third marker on the season, resulting in the 5-4 final.
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