After a disappointing loss last weekend, the Stony Brook hockey team split a series with an Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) foe.
This weekend, the Seawolves (6-7-2, 2-2-0 ESCHL) were at the Tennity Ice Pavilion in Syracuse, N.Y. for a two-game set with the Syracuse Orange (8-9-1, 2-2-0 ESCHL). On Friday, Stony Brook began the series by scoring a season-high six goals in a 6-2 victory. In the league game on Saturday, the Seawolves came out flat in a 4-2 defeat.
Stony Brook showed a dominant display in the opening game of the series, as it controlled the majority of play throughout.
The Seawolves wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Just 2:07 into the first period, winger Kyle Nestepny received a centering pass from fellow winger Thomas Liebold in the slot, where he fired it past Syracuse goaltender Chris Spano’s glove and into the top shelf of the net to give Stony Brook an instant 1-0 lead.
The score stayed the same for most of the opening period but with 3:35 left, Syracuse capitalized off a mistake from the Seawolves. Following a defensive-zone giveaway by defenseman Anthony Marra, Syracuse defenseman Carter Rugg toe dragged around winger Lucas Puccia at the blue line to set up winger Jack Wren in the slot. Wren ripped one timer through goaltender Steven Reganato to even the score at one goal apiece.
However, it would not take Stony Brook long to respond. Just 2:24 later, defenseman Colin Wenrich danced through the neutral zone, pulled up at the right sideboards and threw a seemingly harmless shot on goal that evaded Spano to put the Seawolves ahead 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
The second period saw Stony Brook take control of the game. Just 3:49 into the middle frame, a heavy forecheck by Nestepny and Liebold helped to set up center Michael Rocco, who was left unchecked in front of the Orange’s net. From there, he banged home a shot to extend the Seawolves’ lead.
“[Liebold, Rocco and Nestepny] are the perfect example[s] of what we want everyone to play like,” head coach Chris Garofalo said in an interview with The Statesman. “They went hard the entire game, they were forchecking and it resulted in a pair of goals. Their goals were pure results of effort.”
With momentum on its side, Stony Brook continued its strong play, leading to a slashing penalty by Rugg just under seven minutes into the second period. On the ensuing man advantage, the Seawolves displayed crisp and quick puck movement, culminating with a power-play tally by center James Kozicki from the bottom of the right faceoff circle to make it 4-1 Seawolves.
Syracuse responded just past the halfway mark of the second period. Off a flubbed shot by defenseman Ted Valenti at the Orange’s blue line, Syracuse winger Dylan Goldfarb collected the puck and found himself on a partial breakaway. From the right faceoff dot, he ripped a shot that leaked through Reganato to cut the deficit to 4-2.
However, Reganato responded with several key stops in the following minutes of play and made 18 saves in the second period to protect Stony Brook’s advantage heading into the third.
Just 3:40 into the third period, the Seawolves went to work again in the offensive zone. Following some strong play below the hash marks, Wenrich got the puck at left point and fired a seeing-eye wrist shot through a screen, beating Spano for his second goal of the contest to give his team some breathing room.
From there, Stony Brook did not give Syracuse an inch, as it sealed the game 2:23 later. Just as an Orange power play expired, winger Cooper Smith stripped Syracuse defenseman Jacob VonTersch below the goal line and found center Nick Newman in front of the net, who beat Spano on his blocker side.
Aside from a few solid saves by Reganato down the stretch, the Seawolves did not take their foot off the gas against the Orange and continued their strong play to secure a 6-2 win.
“I saw the team that I know we could be,” Garofalo said. “We were very tenacious on the puck, we forchecked really hard, created some really good turnovers that resulted in instantaneous goals and the ice was tilted. We were on our toes.”
Stony Brook’s special teams were instrumental in the series opener. Along with going 1-for-2 on the power play, its penalty kill was 2-for-2 and just missed scoring their first shorthanded tally of the season. Despite netting six goals, the Seawolves were outshot 38-29.
The opener saw big games from Wenrich and the newly-minted Liebold-Rocco-Nestepny line. Wenrich notched the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career. Nestepny and Rocco each bagged a goal and an assist while Liebold added a pair of helpers.
In the crease, Reganato had a gritty performance, stopping 36 of the 38 shots he faced to earn his first collegiate victory.
However, Stony Brook was unable to complete the sweep, as a slow start led to a loss on Saturday afternoon.
The Seawolves were chasing the game right from the get go. Following an early penalty, Syracuse’s power play capitalized, as Syracuse center Kade Cook deflected a point shot from defenseman Ryan Thomas past goaltender Scott Barnikow to give the Orange a 1-0 lead just 1:54 into the first period.
Despite allowing the opening goal, Barnikow stood on his head for the remainder of the period to keep the game at 1-0 going to the first intermission. Stony Brook was dominated in the shot department, only getting two on net compared to Syracuse’s 15.
In the second period, the Orange struck again just 3:23 in. Wren carried the puck the length of the ice to set up a two-on-two rush before finding Syracuse defenseman Connor Chesner with a backdoor pass, who chipped a backhander home to add to the Orange’s lead.
A little over eight minutes later, Syracuse made it 3-0. After yet another Seawolves penalty, the Orange’s power play went back to work and a shot from right point by Thomas eluded Barnikow’s glove, giving Syracuse more insurance.
Despite having a better period shots-wise, Stony Brook’s offense did not get much going, as it only mustered up 12 shots through the first 40 minutes of play.
During the third period, the Seawolves showed signs of life and made the game close. Just past the nine-minute mark of the frame, Stony Brook broke through on a man advantage of its own, as center William Kormanik danced behind the net and snuck a wraparound over the goal line with Syracuse goaltender A.J. Finta off the post.
Just over two minutes later, the Seawolves got within a goal. Nestepny led a rush up the ice and found a trailing Wenrich in the left faceoff circle, who sniped a far-side shot past Finta’s glove for his third goal of the weekend.
“[Wenrich] is our best overall defenseman,” Garofalo said. “He’s such a bright spot for us. He’s such an amazing skater and has such a high IQ with a good shot. He takes up a lot of minutes on the ice for us and he’s earned it. He‘s one of the guys I’m really proud of.”
The final minutes of the game saw Stony Brook get scoring chances to no avail. After a penalty by defenseman Joe Trazzera halted the Seawolves’ momentum with 3:57 to play, Syracuse took advantage of a defensive-zone turnover by Stony Brook after its power play expired. Syracuse winger Brendan Duffy collected a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and snapped a bottle-popping shot over Barnikow’s left shoulder to put the game away at 4-2 with 1:16 remaining.
“We didn’t have jump in our step,” Garofalo said. “We were very flat footed and it cost us. We didn’t have our jam. I called a timeout … it sparked something and we chipped away. The lesson learned is that we can’t wait til there’s eight minutes left in the second period to start playing hockey.”
Despite a dominant showing in the opening game, the second game was anything but that for the Seawolves. Stony Brook found itself on the penalty kill six different times, two of which the Orange scored on. It was also outshot 39 to 23. Though the Seawolves went 1-for-3 on the power play, they failed to score on a five-minute major early in the game.
In game two, Barnikow was solid, as he turned away 35 of the 39 shots he faced.
Offensively, Wenrich led the way with three goals from the back end and Nestepny tallied a goal and two assists. Kormanik, Kozicki and Rocco all notched a goal and a helper while Liebold and winger Justin Nakagawa accumulated two assists apiece.
Newman tallied a goal to round out the scoring while Smith recorded an assist. Marra and winger Hudson DiNapoli also registered an assist each, marking their first collegiate points in their respective careers.
On a positive note, winger Kristian Malec and defensemen Andrew Mancini, Owen Larson and Brendan Fess should all be healed up from their respective injuries and illnesses for the Seawolves’ next series.
With Thanksgiving looming, Stony Brook will return in two weeks when it will take on the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens at the Fred Rust Arena in Newark, Del. The Blue Hens are 9-7-2 overall this season and 0-1-0 in ESCHL play. They are coming off a weekend during which they went 2-1-0 during the Chicago Classic. The series will open with an 8:30 p.m. puck drop on Friday, Dec. 6, before wrapping up with a 5:30 p.m. start the next day. Only game two will count toward the ESCHL standings.
Anthony DiCocco also contributed reporting.
