The Stony Brook Seawolves Division I Roller Hockey team is off to an amazing start on their 2007-2008 season.
The Seawolves have shot out of the gate from the first game of the season, winning their first eleven games. Winning is an understatement for these boys, as they have scored more than six goals in every game except one, where in that early season game against Boston, only one goal was sufficient to keep the hot winning streak alive.
The team is led by Captain Ryan Keane, who has 17 goals on the season and six assists through 11 games, assistant captain Peter Gugliotta, and between the pipes is goaltender Nick Gullo, who has started in ten games and won all ten.
Heading into this weekend at the Old Bethpage Skate Safe America, they faced a tough challenge, having to play four games in three days against a winless Hofstra Pride team looking for Long Island supremacy, a tough Rutgers Scarlet Knights team, the struggling Suffolk Community College Lighthouses, and the ever-strong Army Black Knights.
Heading into the weekend they were expecting a long, bloody fight to the top, full of body checks, glove saves, and slap shots. They came out of the weekend series looking like they’ve just played a bunch of amateurs.
The first game on November 9, the Seawolves plastered the Pride 7-2, with two goals coming in the first period by defenseman Tom Cartwright, an unassisted goal, and winger Tom D’Ancona.
A monster effort put forth by the team helped them score four goals in the second, with tallies by Peter Gugliotta, Dan Castellano, a shorthanded goal by Jim Tamburino, and a second goal by Gugliotta. They added one more goal in the third, a shorthanded goal by Matt Douglas. The three stars of the game were Tom D’Ancona, Peter Gugliotta, and Jim Tamburino.
On the next day, Saturday, the boys strapped up for two games against Rutgers and Suffolk CC. Not to be fazed by scoring seven goals in one game, the Seawolves came out blasting, scoring nine goals in a 9-6 win over the Scarlett Knights.
Goals came from all contributing factors in this game as Rutgers pulled to within two goals with the score 8-6 with time running down, but Stony Brook hung on to win the game adding an insurance goal by Tom Cartwright. The Seawolves were led in scoring by Captain Ryan Keane, who had four points on the day including the ever-impressive hat trick.
Later in the day, the team took on the Suffolk CC Lighthouses, who are 3-5 through eight games, looking to add a fourth win. They would not get it, however, and Stony Brook once again put together a dominating three periods of hockey, beating the Lighthouses 11-3.
After the first period, the Seawolves looked like they were going to succumb to exhaustion, having already played a game earlier, with Stony Brook taking three penalties to keep the Lighthouses in the game with the score knotted at 1.
In the second period the Seawolves scored an early goal, only to have the Lighthouses come back to tie it again. This would be the closest the Lighthouses would ever get to achieving victory, however, as Stony Brook would put up five of the next six goals en route to a win. The three stars of the game were Ryan Keane, Matt Douglas, and Jim Tamburino, who netted three goals and an assist to lead the team to victory.
Fresh off three straight victories in two days, the Seawolves were soaring high as they clashed with the Black Knights of Army. The West Point boys were looking to stop this Seawolves freight train of a team with a stringent defense and sound offense. They got neither, as Stony Brook pounded the Knights for eight goals in an 8-1 victory.
Clutch performances by Keane, Gugliotta, and top notch goaltending by Erik Topalian, who gave Gullo the day off, made an outstanding 22 saves on 23 shots. The Seawolves poured on 30 shots from inside the zone.
Through one period, Stony Brook was up 1-0, thanks to a goal by Steven Zawalich, but quickly found themselves in a rut as they gave up a second period goal to the Black Knights within the first minute and a half of the period. But things started clicking for the team as the Seawolves scored seven unanswered goals in the next two periods to put the Knights away for good.
Head coach Joe Tamburino was very proud of his team’s veracity for a weekend sweep in Old Bethpage, and expects nothing but the best from his boys. Stay tuned for more exciting Seawolves hockey.
