The Temple Owls (4-2-9-0-0, 16 points) beat the Navy Midshipmen, 3-2, in overtime Friday and lost to the Cornell Big Red, 6-3, Saturday.

The Owls’ victory over ECHA rival Navy marked the program’s first-ever victory over the Midshipmen. 

If Temple beats the Villanova Icecats Friday and the Towson Tigers lose on Saturday to the Penn State Berks Blue Lions or Sunday to Villanova, Temple is guaranteed a spot in the 2019 ECHA playoffs.

John Scaccia scored first for Navy 1:40 into the game. Temple steadied the ship throughout the rest of the first period before Garrett Russell scored the game’s only power-play goal with 7:37 remaining in the second period to make it 1-1. The two teams headed into the third period deadlocked.

The Owls were 1-for-5 on the power play and killed off the only man-advantage Navy received.

Ben Auerbach made 52 saves on 54 shots and Thatcher Givens saved 33 of 36 shots.

Box Score

Andrew Kaeser scored 4:46 into the final period to put Temple ahead, 2-1. Sean McDowell charged to the left wing corner after the puck and sent it to the front of the net, where Kaeser tapped it in to beat Givens.

The Owls faced on onslaught from Navy, and with Givens pulled for an extra attacker, Matthew Stamler wristed a shot by Auerbach to tie the game with 41 seconds remaining in regulation. The game went to overtime.

Brendan Ondick, who scored the overtime game-winning goal on Jan. 27th against Towson, led a two-on-one rush down the right wing with Charles Ghiazza to his left. Ondick’s shot was blocked, but he collected it behind the net and slid the puck to Ghiazza in the left circle. Ghiazza’s laser-wrister beat Givens to give the Owls a crucial win.

Ghiazza immediately dropped his gloves and raised his arms to celebrate the statement win.

“I knew we had three really good guys on the ice against probably their three best guys,” Ghiazza said. “We tried to just own possession the whole time. It ended up with Ondick having it behind the net, there’s two guys on him. He fed it right to me and I had a perfect shot.”

Following the emotional overtime win, head coach Mark Spease decided to change the lineup dramatically for Saturday’s non-conference game against Cornell.

Auerbach was given the night off. Matt Sheley started in net with John Callahan dressing as the backup.

Ghiazza played on the blue line Saturday night with defensemen Alex Barberini, Connor Lordi, and Ryan Trefz all sitting out. Freshman Thomas Zembricki also moved to the blueline, as he did earlier in the season.

Ghiazza had two goals and Kaeser had two assists in a game that was fairly even until the last five minutes. Cornell’s Jacob Rauch scored to make the score 5-3 with 4:55 remaining, and Bill Stahley scored an empty-netter to secure the Big Red’s 6-3 win.

Box Score

Sheley made 31 saves on 36 shots, and Taidhgin Keel made 45 saves on 48 shots. Cornell went 1-for-4 on the power play and didn’t take any penalties throughout the game.

Upcoming Games
Fri., Feb. 8 at 7:20 p.m. - Owls at Villanova
Sat., Feb. 9 at 4:00 p.m. - Owls vs. Rutgers (TUICE Network)

Leaders
Points: Charles Ghiazza - 44
Goals: Charles Ghiazza - 29
Assists: Ryan Trefz - 19
PPG: Charles Ghiazza - 8
PIM: Garett Russell - 54

Standings
1. 40 points - *Drexel (15gp, 13-1-0-1)
2. 37 points - *West Chester (15gp, 13-2-0-0)
3. 32 points - *Navy (16gp, 10-4-2-0)
4. 27 points - *William Paterson (13gp, 9-3-0-1)
5. 16 points - Temple (15gp, 6-9-0-0)
6. 14 points - Villanova (13gp, 5-8-0-0)
---------------------------------------------------------------
7. 12 points - Towson (14gp, 4-9-1-0)
8. 8 points - Lehigh (13gp, 2-9-2-0)
9. 6 points - Penn State Berks (2-12-0-0)
* Clinched Playoffs