The road to nationals just got a little bit tougher.

Up 2-0 nothing and dominating into the second period, the Seawolves ice hockey team still could not find a way to put away conference rival West Chester on Saturday night at the Rinx, and were defeated 6-3.

Still ranked #19 in the country, Stony Brook will be battling until the end of the year for its annual spot in the championship tournament. But a victory over West Chester would have given the Seawolves a leg up on the automatic bid awarded to the winner of the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association.

John Wong, who has been playing strong hockey all season, scored the Seawolves first goal with a slap shot from inside the right circle 7:13 into the game. The puck squirted through the legs of the goalie and crossed the goal line to give the Seawolves the early lead.

Three minutes later Dan Capizzuto scored off an assist from Kris Deckenback to put Stony Brook up two goals. Deckenback nearly scored a goal himself later in the first on a Seawolves 5-on-3. He rang a shot off the crossbar for the Seawolves best chance of the man advantage.

Even though Deckenback did not score, he played an all around great game, mixing it up physically with players much bigger than him, and giving valuable minutes on the penalty kill.

But everything seemed to fall apart midway through the second period.

“A seven or eight minute lapse in the entire game,” Assistant Coach Pete Hall said. “We outplayed them for 53 minutes.”

Captain Colin Brumstead was whistled for a two minute minor for interference with 13:57 left in the second period.

Stony Brook managed to kill most of the penalty off, but with 11 seconds left on the man advantage West Chester got on the board.

Senior Robert Bushman slammed home a great pass from the corner all the way to the opposite goal post by Shane McGarry.

Just 23 seconds later Bushman assisted on a goal by Jim Gehring, and just like that the game was tied up.

“It sucked,” Captain Angelo Serse said about watching the game from behind the glass. “I saw what was happening. We outplayed them but a few breakdowns killed us.”

1:20 later West Chester struck again.

Dave Bixler and Patrick Johnson found themselves alone behind the Stony Brook defense. Goaltender Derek Stevens had no chance and West Chester went ahead 3-2.

Stevens played a solid game, but was let down on a few occasions by his defense. He finished with 21 saves.

The Seawolves responded after the third West Chester goal and put together a great five minute stretch that culminated in a West Chester holding penalty.

Deckenback and Tom Pacifico broke out for a two-on-one odd man rush but where not able to get a clean shot on goal. 30 seconds later John Wong and Mauricio Torres had another two-on-one, and again were not able to put a quality shot on goal.

Twenty seconds into the Seawolves’ power play, West Chester stuffed all the Stony Brook momentum with a short-handed goal. A West Chester forward got in alone on Stevens and decked backhand and put the shot just under the crossbar.

Three minutes later the Seawolves found themselves on another power play.

After consistent pressure that was turned aside by acrobatic goaltending, Mauricio Torres was finally able to put the bpck into the West Chester net. Defense man Pete Zarella was down in the corner and found Torres by himself in front of the net.

“I was at the end of a shift,” Torres said. “Zarella came out of the corner and I stepped out and he gave me a good pass.”

Three minutes after that Stony Brook got yet another power play.

West Chester won the defensive zone face off and lifted the puck high in the air down the ice.

Capizutto, the only Seawolves player back, took a baseball like swing at the puck and whiffed. That allowed West Chester’s Gehring to get behind him and pick up the loose puck.

He got in alone on Stevens and scored the goal that put the Seawolves in a hole they could not dig out of.

The Seawolves had chances in the third period, with three power plays. But the only goal in the frame was scored by West Chester, pushing the final score to 6-3.

“We played really well in the first period, came out strong and caught them flat footed,” Torre said. “We came out flat in the second, and gave them a chance to come back. And they took advantage of it.”