On the fly
Friday, December 3
Alabama-Huntsville 1 at Cornell 3
Sophomore John Esposito broke the ice, and seniors Patrick Kennedy and Tyler Roeszler followed through the breach as the Big Red scored three second-period goals to take Game 1. Junior netminder Mike Garman stopped 24 of 25 for his second win of the year, and neither team converted on five combined power plays.
Clarkson 5 at Princeton 3
Golden Knights sophomore Adam Pawlick scored the team’s fifth power-play goal of the year to secure the lead for good in a 21-penalty slug-fest. Frosh Matt Zarbo, sophomore Nik Pokulok, junior Corey Tamblyn and senior Scott Freeman also scored for ‘Tech, which won despite giving up 10 power-play chances to the Tigers (who scored all three goals on the advantage). Sophs Eric Meland and Rob Kleebaum and senior Taylor Fedun lit the lamp for the home side, while Clarkson junior Paul Karpowich (39 saves) out-dueled Tigers sophomore Mike Condon (22, on 26 shots against).
Rensselaer 2 at Yale 4
Two power-play goals broke the game’s two deadlocks, and both fell in favor of the Bulldogs in Friday’s big game. Seniors paved the way for Yale as classmates Broc Little, Chris Cahill Jeff Anderson and sophomore Andrew Miller lit the lamp, and fellow senior Ryan Rondeau improved to 8-0-0 with 15 saves. Sophomore Nick Bailen and junior Mike Bergin drew RPI even early in the second stanza, but junior Allan York’s 20 saves on 23 shots and the ‘Tute’s 0-5 power play weren’t enough to vault the Engineers to an upset.
St. Lawrence 6 at Quinnipiac 4
Rookie Greg Carey’s two goals and junior Robby Moss’ 39 saves led the Saints to their first victory in nearly a month, snapping a three-game losing streak against the tenacious Bobcats. Carey and classmate Kyle Essery scored nine seconds apart, just three minutes into the game, to take an early 2-0 lead on QU and sophomore goalie Eric Hartzell (10 saves). The Bobcats came back to wrest a 3-2 lead in the game’s 28th minute, but three straight goals by sophomores George Hughes, Kyle Flanagan and frosh Carey put the Saints ahead for good; senior Aaron Bogosian’s empty-netter concluded the scoring. Sophomores Zach Davies, Jeremy Langlois, Russell Goodman and junior Scott Zurevinski scored for QU, while junior Dan Clarke (eight saves) mopped up.
Union 4 at Brown 3
The Dutchmen stormed back from a 2-0 second-period deficit with three straight goals, then soph defenseman Shawn Stuart found his scoring touch at the opportune moment to break a 3-3 draw and propel Union to victory. Classmates Wayne Simpson, Jeremy Welsh, and freshman Daniel Carr also scored for Union, which topped the three-goal mark for the first time in nearly six weeks. Sophomore goalie Keith Kinkaid was called upon for only 15 saves for his eighth W of the year. Junior Jack Maclellan took over Brown’s team lead in goals with both a short-handed and power-play goal, sandwiching freshman Matt Wahl’s even-strength marker. Junior Mike Clemente stopped 28 of 32 in defeat.
Saturday, December 4
Rensselaer 6 at Brown 2
Senior Tyler Helfrich scored two key goals and York stopped 33 in RPI’s eighth victory of the year. Helfrich scored the last-lead and game-winning goals against Clemente (eight saves), but was joined in the goal department by freshmen Pat Koudys and Johnny Rogic, and sophomores Bailen and Greg Burgdoerfer. Maclellan and junior Mike Wolff scored for Brown, which fell to 0-3-1 at home and lost back-to-back games for the first time all year. Sophomore Anthony Borelli took over for Clemente after his the latter’s fourth goal against; Borelli played nearly 35 minutes in relief, stopping 11 of 13.
St. Lawrence 1 at Princeton 5
Princeton scored four goals in two quick bursts in the second period, went 3/7 on the power play, and freshman Matt Farris scored his first two NCAA goals in downing SLU. Farris and Meland scored 1:26 apart early in the second, and senior Matt Arhontas and Farris teamed up for two more goals in 41 seconds later in the frame; senior Mike Kramer’s empty-netter secured the win for the Tigers and rookie goalie Sean Bonar (18 saves). Kyle Flanagan scored his fifth of the year in the third period, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the Saints, who were out-shot 47-19 on the evening. Moss faced 35 of those shots, saving 31, and junior Joe Spadaccini came in for 5:24 of shot-less relief in the loss.
Alabama-Huntsville 2 at Cornell 2 (ot)
Esposito extended his goal-scoring streak to three games and Cornell again generated all of its offense in the second period, but it wasn’t enough this time as a UAH power-play goal early in the third period set the Chargers and Big Red up for a draw. Sophomore Greg Miller scored on the PP as well for Cornell’s other tally, and rookie Andy Iles stopped 18 in the tie. The outcome was certainly disappointing for Cornell, not only given the Chargers’ dismal record and the Red’s Lynah Rink advantage, but also for the fact that Cornell got a five-minute power play with 1:05 to play in the third period but couldn’t crack UAH goalie John Griggs in regulation or extra time. The tie does establish a legit unbeaten streak for the Big Red, however, now at three games (2-0-1) – its longest of the season.
Clarkson 5 at Quinnipiac 3
Senior Brandon DeFazio’s third-period hat trick and Karpowich’s 37 saves vanquished the Bobcats and gave Clarkson its first three-game winning streak of the year. Rookie Allan McPherson and senior Bryan Rufenach also scored for the Knights, who scored five times despite a single power-play opportunity (0/1). Davies and Langlois scored again for QU – each with a power-play goal – and junior Yuri Bouharevich potted one as well in the Bobcats’ fourth straight loss. Clarke stopped 22 of 27 between the QU pipes.
Colgate 3 at Army 0
Colgate avoided tying a program-record eighth consecutive loss as three juniors – Austin Smith, Corbin McPherson, and Nick Prockow – did the Black Knights in for the second time this season. McPherson’s first-period PPG (Colgate was 1/5 on the advantage) proved to be all that was needed for junior Alex Evin (24 saves) to pick up his second shutout and third win of the season; both of Evin’s career clean-sheets have been won this year.
Sunday, December 5
Union 0 at Yale 5
Rondeau earned his first career shutout in his 23rd start, blanking Union on 30 shots behind an ever-lethal Bulldogs offense. Cahill’s two third-period goals put the game out of reach, and juniors Kevin Limbert, Nick Jaskowiak and Brian O’Neill also excited the Blue crowd with tallies in one of Yale’s most challenging matchups of the season. The win was Yale’s fifth in a row, bolstered in large part by the Bulldogs’ six successful penalty kills, as the Elis made a strong case for consideration as the nation’s top team.
In retrospect…
Prediction precision: 5-5-1 (.500) last week, 50-28-11 (.624) overall.
Guest guessers: 32-28-6 (.530)
Apparently big-fish/small-pond status isn’t tempting enough for some people to put their credibility on the line…. but for those bold enough, I’m still seeking guest-guessers for next week and beyond. Email me (ECACWriter@USCHO.com) for consideration!
