For a second straight weekend, the No. 22 Stony Brook hockey team had to make due with a series split against an Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) rival after having game one in its grasp.
This weekend, the Seawolves (5-5-2, 2-0-0 ESCHL) were at Alpha Ice Complex in Pittsburgh for a two-game series with the Pittsburgh Panthers. Friday night’s game saw Stony Brook have a strong start followed by a disastrous finish, as it blew multiple leads throughout the course of the game en route to a 5-4 loss. On Saturday, the Seawolves won the all-important ESCHL game 4-1 in convincing fashion.
In game one, Stony Brook did not take long to strike first. In his defensive zone at the 2:03 mark of the first period, Pittsburgh defenseman John Lukac nonchalantly threw a pass into the middle of the ice but put it right on winger Nate LeGrette’s stick. LeGrette capitalized, making a quick move to his backhand to bury a shot past goaltender Joe Ambroffi to put the Seawolves ahead 1-0.
The Panthers responded quickly, as their power-play unit went to work after a tripping penalty by winger Cooper Smith. On the man advantage, winger J.C. Bele took a shot from the bumper spot that goaltender Garrett Simpson turned away. However, winger Colby Bilski was lurking in the left faceoff circle and fired home a one timer off the rebound to knot the game at one apiece.
Thanks to their newly-minted line of center William Kormanik and wingers Kristian Malec and Paul DeSaro, Stony Brook regained the lead. Off the rush, Ambroffi stopped a DeSaro shot, but Kormanik easily tapped in the rebound to make it 2-1 with 8:35 remaining in the opening period.
Just over three minutes later, the Seawolves’ hottest line came through again. From the bottom of the right faceoff circle, Kormanik netted his second goal of the game by sniping a stray puck over Ambroffi’s left shoulder.
“[The Malec-Kormanik-DeSaro line] has been a good combo,” head coach Chris Garofalo said in an interview with The Statesman. “[Kormanik] and Malec have played together in the past … and there was also something between the two of them. Malec is a playmaker, [Kormanik] is a big guy with a high IQ and [DeSaro] has a great shot and is a goalscorer.”
Despite having momentum on its side, Stony Brook surrendered a late, first-period goal. With five ticks left on the clock, Pittsburgh center Ian Keller laid out a stretch pass from his own end to Bele behind the Seawolves’ defense, who roofed a shot over Simpson’s glove on the breakaway to cut the Panthers’ deficit to 3-2 heading into the middle frame.
The action cooled down in the second period until Pittsburgh got even just prior to the midway point. After a point shot by Pittsburgh defenseman Jack Kisela hit the crossbar, center Maverick Crupi followed up the chance by banging it into a wide-open net.
Just 41 seconds later, Stony Brook answered. After digging out a loose puck in the corner, DeSaro cut to the middle of the ice and buried a perfectly placed backhander past Ambroffi to put his team back ahead 4-3.
The Seawolves’ defense held strong until the 6:09 mark of the third period. From left point, Pittsburgh defenseman Brady Rotolo fired a wrist shot that winger Santino Multari tipped past Simpson to even the game up at 4-4.
Going into the final minute of regulation, it seemed as if the game was destined for overtime, but Multari had other ideas. With 29 seconds left, Multari stormed down the right side and ripped a short-side shot off the rush that Simpson failed to save, giving the Panthers a 5-4 lead that they would not relinquish.
“We have to learn how to win and close out teams,” Garofalo said. “We’re young, we have a lot of new guys. We just have to learn how to manage the game when we have the clock on our side, limit high-risk plays and understand the situation.”
The contest was eerily similar to last weekend’s series opener against Rhode Island when the Seawolves blew a 4-1 lead. On Friday, Stony Brook was outshot 36 to 28, while going 0-for-3 on the power play and killing off two of its three shorthanded disadvantages. Simpson struggled as well, as the rookie allowed five goals on 36 shots.
However, the Seawolves displayed a short memory once again and bounced back the following day during the series finale.
Stony Brook opened the scoring 10:45 into the opening period when Smith took advantage of a broken play off the rush. From a tough angle, he collected a loose puck before firing a wrister past Pittsburgh goaltender Grant Lindsay and into the top right corner of the net, making it 1-0 with his first collegiate goal.
After a quiet end to the first period, the Seawolves extended their lead to 2-0 at the 4:33 mark of period two. From left point, defenseman Jackson Haskins sent a slap pass down low that was perfectly redirected in by Kormanik at the side of the net.
The Panthers got on the board in the late stages of the second period, as with 4:45 remaining, Keller beat goaltender Scott Barnikow by tapping in a precise backdoor pass from winger Drake Tomak to cut Stony Brook’s lead in half.
However, the Seawolves restored their two-goal lead with 42 seconds to go until the second intermission. From his defensive end, Haskins sent an aerial flip into the Panthers’ zone. Smelling a scoring chance, LeGrette hustled to the loose puck, fought off Pittsburgh defenseman Alex Paluso’s back check and snuck a shot through Lindsay while falling to the ice to make it 3-1.
“LeGrette was a highlight of the two games,” Garofalo said. “He has a motor. He’s got four goals in six games. This is a performance-based job and he performs. He shows effort, tenacity and works hard on the ice.”
The third period saw a big push by the Panthers in an effort to tie the game. Luckily for Stony Brook, Barnikow stood on his head as he has done all season long, fending off all 14 shots he faced.
The Seawolves’ power play rewarded Barnikow for his efforts with a late tally to seal the game. With 2:11 remaining in the game, center James Kozicki received a pass from winger Justin Nakagawa in the slot and slid a shot on goal that eluded Lindsay, putting the game out of reach at 4-1.
The X factors in Stony Brook’s win were its special teams, goaltending and timely scoring. The Seawolves scored four goals on just 27 shots and went 1-for-3 on the power play. Barnikow had a stellar outing in net, stopping 38 of the 39 shots he faced, while their penalty kill also came up big by killing off all six of Pittsburgh’s power plays.
“We locked it down,” Garofalo said. “We kept chipping away. We killed off a lot of penalties … we had a power-play goal yesterday, we changed up some lines and made some adjustments. We did a great job of managing the game.”
Throughout the weekend, the Malec-Kormanik-DeSaro line was the engine of Stony Brook’s offense. Kormanik led the team with three goals and an assist while DeSaro scored a goal and picked up two helpers. Malec notched four assists.
LeGrette scored two goals, while Nakagawa and Haskins each collected two assists during the series. Kozicki and Smith buried a goal apiece. Defenseman Colin Wenrich also picked up an assist.
Perhaps the biggest development over the weekend was an injury sustained by defenseman Andrew Mancini. After being interfered with by Crupi in game one, the captain crashed awkwardly into the boards and missed the series finale. According to Garofalo, Mancini likely suffered a concussion and is unlikely to play this upcoming weekend. However, unlike his head injury from last season, it is not feared to keep Mancini out long term.
Stony Brook will be back in action at The Rinx next Saturday for a matchup with the Drexel Dragons, who are coming off a two-game sweep over Rhode Island this past weekend. Overall, Drexel is 9-3-0 this season and 3-1-0 in ESCHL play. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and the game will count toward ESCHL standings.
Anthony DiCocco also contributed reporting.
