During its regular-season finale, the No. 22 Stony Brook hockey team honored its graduating seniors with a victory over an Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) rival.
The Seawolves (13-11-6, 6-3-1 ESCHL) bid farewell to their 2024-25 regular season at The Rinx on Saturday with a matchup against the Drexel Dragons (18-10-1, 5-5-0 ESCHL). After honoring its graduating players with a pregame ceremony for senior night, Stony Brook took care of business on the ice to send its seniors home happy with a 5-2 win in their final collegiate home game.
Though Drexel controlled play to start the contest, the Seawolves drew first blood at the 8:23 mark of the first period. From behind the net, center William Kormanik centered a pass to winger Paul DeSaro in the slot, who snapped a one-timer past Drexel goaltender Ryan Nocerino’s blocker and in.
However, Stony Brook’s 1-0 lead lasted just 29 seconds. Though defenseman Brendan Fess tripped Drexel center Matthew Harris to deny a golden scoring opportunity, Harris got his revenge on the power play. A clearing attempt by defenseman Dylan Kowalsky bounced off winger Justin Nakagawa and to Drexel winger Pietro Baccarin in front of the net. From there, his shot was stopped, but Harris banged the rebound home past goaltender Scott Barnikow.
With 2:01 to go in the opening frame, the Seawolves went back in front 2-1. Off a faceoff in the right dot, Kormanik won it to winger Alex Scimeca. Despite having his shot blocked by Drexel winger Emil Lindvall, the puck pinballed right onto Kormanik’s stick at the side of the net, who buried it into the yawing cage.
After enduring an injury-plagued season last year, Kormanik missed just one game during this regular season en route to a team-leading 15 goals and 34 points.
“Staying healthy has been fantastic,” Kormanik said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “Last year was not the best and it feels good to be where I’m at right now. I think the consistency of practice, working out with the guys and all those things together has helped me get to where I am.”
Although it failed to score in the second period despite outshooting the Dragons 19-8, Stony Brook finally broke through against Nocerino just over seven minutes into the third. On a two-on-one rush, Nakagawa feathered a pass to winger Thomas Liebold, who drove the net and snuck a backhander through Nocerino to stretch the Seawolves’ lead to 3-1.
During his final home game, which saw him net a pair of goals and lay plenty of big hits, Liebold made the most of his opportunity playing alongside Nakagawa and center James Kozicki on the team’s top line.
“I feel like I bring some physicality out of [Nakagawa and Kozicki],” Liebold said. “We got a hard forecheck, we’re able to go to work in the corners and move the puck around, so I feel like we all work well together.”
During a strong defensive third period from Stony Brook, Drexel’s best opportunity to cut its deficit came with 5:38 remaining. Winger Ryan Sambuco found himself alone on a breakaway, but Barnikow stoned him on both his initial try and second effort to keep the Seawolves’ advantage at two goals.
After a prolonged stretch of offensive zone time for Stony Brook, the Dragons were finally able to call Nocerino to the bench for an extra attacker with under two minutes to play. Nonetheless, winger Kristian Malec quickly retrieved a pass from center Nick Newman and picked up an empty-net goal for his first tally of the season.
Though Drexel center Anton Kozitskiy converted on a two-on-one rush just 30 seconds later, Liebold responded with another empty-netter to seal the game at 5-2.
“The guys really had a want tonight and it showed,” head coach Chris Garofalo said. “The guys did all the little things that we ask them to do. They executed and we played smart defensively. We controlled the play a lot. Our tenacity and intensity toward the puck and … effort was all there.”
In the shot column, the Seawolves’ threw 48 pucks on goal compared to the Dragons’ 37.
While on the penalty kill, Stony Brook killed off four of Drexel’s five power plays. On the opposite side of the ice, the Seawolves failed to convert on their lone man advantage.
In the crease, Barnikow turned away 35 shots and earned a win in his final start at The Rinx.
Offensively, Liebold led the way with two goals, while Kormanik notched a goal and an assist. DeSaro and Malec each lit the lamp, while Newman recorded two assists. Scimeca, Fess and Nakagawa picked up a helper apiece.
Though saying goodbye to The Rinx represents a bittersweet feeling for the team’s seniors, they are looking forward to finishing out their collegiate careers and making some noise in the ESCHL playoffs.
“We’ve got a lot of great guys and seniors,” Liebold said. “This was just a fantastic year through and through and to end the season at The Rinx like this is great. We’re ready to go into the playoffs with a little bit of head of steam.”
Next weekend, Stony Brook will head to the Revolution Ice Centre in Pittston, Pa. to begin its quest to secure one last ESCHL title before its move to the Atlantic Coast Conference Hockey League next season. With the Seawolves’ victory, they earned the second seed in the tournament and a first-round bye, allowing them to move right into the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Depending on the results of Friday’s games, Stony Brook will face the highest seed remaining of third-seeded Pittsburgh, fifth-seeded Syracuse or Drexel, who finished fourth.
