In its return from a month-long layoff, the Stony Brook hockey team came out flat to start 2025 but salvaged a series split against an Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) rival.
This weekend, the Seawolves (8-8-3, 3-3-0 ESCHL) were at Boss Ice Arena in Kingston, R.I. for a two-game set against the Rhode Island Rams (12-8-3, 2-5-1 ESCHL). Stony Brook dropped game one 4-3 in overtime on Friday night before bouncing back with a 4-2 win in the official league game on Saturday afternoon.
To open the series, Rhode Island jumped out to a 1-0 lead just over eight minutes into the first period. After collecting a loose puck at left point, Rhode Island center Ethan Cordeiro sent it to the net from the left faceoff circle. Though goaltender Scott Barnikow turned the initial shot aside, winger Max Lockwood banged in the rebound to give his team an early advantage.
In the final five minutes of the opening frame, the Seawolves found the equalizer. In the right circle, center Nick Newman won a faceoff back to winger Kyle Nestepny, who blindly threw a backhander on goal. With the puck bouncing around in the blue paint, winger Paul DeSaro swiped the rebound past goaltender Nick Maringola to make it 1-1.
During the second period, Barnikow put on a show to keep the score tied. The netminder made a number of acrobatic stops to keep the game deadlocked before Stony Brook capitalized on one of its five shots in the middle stanza.
With 3:15 remaining in the second period, winger Justin Nakagawa retrieved a puck below the goal line. After creating some space for himself in the left corner, Nakagawa connected with defenseman Kiernan Gately in the slot, who ripped a shot over Maringola’s glove to put the Seawolves ahead 2-1.
Nonetheless, Stony Brook was unable to keep the Rams at bay for long, as they put up a power-play marker to knot the game at two apiece a minute and a half later. With the puck at center point, Rhode Island defenseman Zach Bell threaded the needle and found center Jake MacKinnon at the backdoor of the crease. Despite sprawling to his left, Barnikow did not get over in time to make his 19th stop of the period, as MacKinnon snuck it through to even things up.
Much like the second period, the two sides remained in a stalemate for most of the third until things picked up late. With 5:34 remaining in regulation time, Rhode Island winger Shane Mulhern forced a turnover at the left half-wall and cut to the slot before sliding a backdoor feed to MacKinnon, who buried it into the yawning cage for his second of the game.
However, the Seawolves fought back with three minutes to go in the third period. After receiving a breakout pass in the neutral zone, center Nick Newman came streaking down the left side, drove the net and sent an area pass into the slot. Jumping in from the back end, Gately quickly fired a wrister past Maringola’s blocker, eventually forcing overtime with the game tied at 3-3.
In the extra period, defenseman Jonathan Shaw sent the Rams’ fans home happy just over a minute in. Lockwood led a three-on-two rush up ice and dropped the puck to Cordeiro, who battled through a check and dropped a pass back to Shaw. From the slot, Shaw cut to his left to maneuver around DeSaro and netted a wrister into the top right corner of the net for the walk-off tally.
Despite battling back to force overtime with a strong third period, Stony Brook was outshot 36-23 in the contest and relied on Barnikow — who was sharp — to deny 32 shots. The Seawolves’ lack of possession showed, as they were not able to draw a penalty. They allowed a power-play goal on their lone shorthanded disadvantage.
Unlike the series opener, Stony Brook set the tone for the finale. At the 2:45 mark of the first period, defenseman Dylan Kowalsky moved the puck to winger Nate LeGrette, and from right point, he took a wrist shot that eluded goaltender Callum Burgess to make it 1-0.
With 2:27 remaining in the opening period, the Rams got even. Goaltender Garrett Simpson stoned a point-blank shot from the slot by winger Danila Naumovs, but center Corey Szabo cleaned up the rebound from a sharp angle.
The score remained unchanged until the 7:51 mark of the second period. Rhode Island winger Matt Tetreault flew down the right wall, circled the net and slid the puck to a lurking Shaw in the slot, who one-timed a slap shot past Simpson’s glove to put the Rams ahead 2-1.
Following a back-and-forth start to the third period, Nakagawa knotted the score at 2-2 just prior to the midway point, allowing the Seawolves to begin to pull away. Off a faceoff in the left circle, center William Kormanik pushed the puck forward and immediately centered it to Nakagawa in front of the net, who went top shelf into the wide-open cage.
With 7:11 left in the final frame, Gately stayed hot. After receiving a pass from Nakagawa at the goal line, Kormanik bumped the puck to Gately, who crept into the slot. From there, Gately made no mistake, as he sniped a shot over Burgess’ left shoulder to give Stony Brook a 3-2 advantage.
After regaining the lead, the Seawolves tacked on some insurance to secure the victory. While on the power play under three minutes later, Nakagawa, Kormanik and Newman showed off crisp, tic-tac-toe passing that culminated when Newman snapped one-timer past Burgess’ blocker from the slot.
During the second half of the back-to-back affairs, Stony Brook put together a complete effort. It outshot Rhode Island 40-30, killed off its only penalty and went 1-for-3 on the power play.
Simpson played well during the win, making 28 stops on the 30 shots he faced.
Head coach Chris Garofalo did not speak to the media after either game.
Offensively, Gately led the way by putting together the first multi-goal performance of his collegiate career on Friday before tallying the game-winning goal and adding an assist the next day. Nakagawa finished the weekend with a goal and four assists.
Kormanik was also a playmaker, notching three assists. Newman picked up a goal and two helpers while DeSaro and LeGrette also lit the lamp. Nestepny, Kowalsky and winger Hudson DiNapoli filled out the scoresheet with an assist apiece.
Next weekend, the Seawolves will return to action at The Rinx for the first time this calendar year to take on the No. 22 Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in a two-game series. Delaware is 12-8-3 overall and 1-1-0 in ESCHL play this season. It will come into the matchup having gone 2-1-0 against Colorado and Indiana University of Pennsylvania this weekend. The series opener is set for Saturday at 7 p.m., and it will conclude the next day with a 3:30 p.m. puck drop. Only the series finale will count toward ESCHL standings.
