Students and fans of all ages packed The Rinx in Hauppauge on Saturday night to see the Stony Brook Seawolves ice hockey team return to action against highly ranked Liberty University. The game was tightly contested throughout, but in the end sloppy defensive play and too many penalties led the Seawolves to drop the game 6-3.
“During the game we played well, we out shot them,” said Seawolves head coach Buzz DesChamps. “We just made some major mistakes taking stupid penalties.”
The key all night for the Seawolves was special team play. Stony Brook had numerous 5-on-3 power play chances and failed to convert.
A five-minute span late in the second period was the turning point of the game. Liberty was whistled for four consecutive penalties, giving the Seawolves ample time with the two-man advantage. They were unable to convert, and Liberty scored what ended up being the game winning goal shortly after killing off all the penalties.
The crowd was loud and energetic from the start, and got a boost when forward Angelo Serse scored the season’s first goal just 34 seconds in. Serse came in on a partial breakaway and beat the Liberty goaltender with a low wrist shot just inside the post.
Liberty came back with a goal of their own a little less than five minutes later, but Stony Brook jumped back in front shortly after. Kris Deckenback and Mauricio Torres broke in on a 2-on-1 break but got to fancy with their passing. The puck ended up loose in front before Tom Pacifico swooped in and batted it to the back of the cage.
Liberty was able to tie the game at two late in the first period. The Flames were awarded a penalty shot while they were already on the power play with 3:50 to go. Goaltender Derek Stevens turned aside the shot, but Liberty scored a power play goal just 11 seconds later.
Assistant Coach Pete Hall expressed his disappointment in the teams special teams play. “The goalie was outstanding tonight,” he said. “But we took to many penalties and our penalty kill [hurt us].”
Sloppy play in the defensive zone cost the Seawolves in the second period. After a bad turnover resulted in a 2-on-0 break and a goal for Liberty four minutes in, they nearly scored again on a breakaway after another turnover, but Stevens was able to bail them out.
Serse came to the rescue again midway through the second, scoring the teams lone power play goal after his centering pass banked off the goalie.
Serse seemed to be amped up all night. At the end of the first period he fired a slap shot on goal and followed the play behind the net, hitting a Liberty played into the boards well after the puck had been moved.
“I was trying to do something,” he said. “Trying to get something going.”
Apparently it wasn’t enough to fire his team up. “We gave up” in the third period, he said. “We took stupid penalties, couldn’t stay out of the box.”
After Serse’s goal Liberty used its size and strength advantage to grind out the third period and keep the Seawolves pinned in their own end.
Even though his team lost, DesChamps, making his Stony Brook coaching debut, sought positives after the game.
“It was our first game of the season,” he said. “That’s one of the top ranked teams in the country, I think we fared pretty well. We’ll go home gets a good nights sleep, take another go at ’em in the morning.”
Notes: The Seawolves fell again to Liberty on Sunday morning, this time by a score of 6-2. Serse scored the first goal and assisted on the second by Tom Pacifico. Derek Stevens was in goal again and did well to keep his team in the game. The Seawolves season continues this weekend when they travel to Michigan-Dearborn on Friday night.
