The Lions were scheduled to start the semester with a three game weekend, all three Colonial league games but Saturday's game at Seton Hall was postponed due to the winter storm in north jersey. So that left a home and home with the Rutgers Ice Knights, Friday night being the first game in Somerset. The Lions had some chances in the first few minutes of the game but some penalties on both teams would muddle the period and Rutgers would score first on a screened point shot by Sean Murphy, they would take the one goal lead into the intermission. In the second both teams would trade chances but Rutgers would again pot the only goal of the period when Luke Ciocca would put home a rebound at the ten minute mark. TCNJ would push back but they were unable to solve Ice Knights goalie Gibilisco and Rutgers had a two goal lead through two periods. Halfway through the third period Rutgers would push the lead to 3-0 on a questionable play at the blue line as Anthony Margiotta finished off a breakaway. Shortly after that the Lions would finally get on the board when Kris Hastings (16th) would finish off a great pass from to cut the deficit to two. With three minutes remaining and the Lions shorthanded Ryan Anderson made a nice pass to Anthony DeAlto (9th) who put the shot high into the net to make it a one goal game. Unfortunately the Lions couldn't net a third one and they would drop their first official Colonial league game in regulation. Goalie Mike Lojewski made 29 saves in the loss, dropping his record to 6-7 on the season. 

On Sunday the Lions hosted the Ice Knights looking for some payback for Friday nights set back. Much like Friday the Lions came out with energy but Rutgers would get the games first goal when Branden Kushnir finished off a rebound chance. TCNJ would get it right back as senior Ryan Anderson (4th) would tip home an Andrew Lem shot on the power play. Rutgers would answer minutes later when Robert Proko deflected home a centering pass and take a 2-1 lead into the second period despite being out shot 18-9. The Lions came out strong in the beginning of the second period and knot the game at two when Andrew Summa (4th) poked home a centering pass by Kevin Broskie but like the in the first period Rutgers would answer with a power play goal by Anthony Margiotta. Again TCNJ would fight back to tie the game when Dan Martin (6th) would poke home a loose puck in the crease after a Ryan Anderson shot. The second period would end tied at three with TCNJ leading in shots 32-19. The third period was a much more even period but Rutgers would get their fourth lead of the game when Nicholas Monticchico would score shorthanded on a hard shot from the top of the left circle. But once again the Lions would show their resiliency and tie the game up when freshman Mike Hannigan (3rd) would streak down the left wing and score top shelf with a hard snap shot! TCNJ would have to kill off a Rutgers power play in the last 4 minutes of the third period to get the game to overtime. In overtime the Lions had most of the pressure, Anthony DeAlto narrowly missing an open net but they again would need to kill a penalty to get the game to a shootout. In the shootout senior Kris Hastings pulled off his patented move for the only goal as goalie Mike Lojewski would stop all three Rutgers shooters to give the Lions their first win of the semester. Lojewski also stopped 26 shots in regulation and overtime, the win evened his record at 7-7 and improved the team's league record to 11-1-1 good for second place.

The Lions have two tough matchups next weekend as they host the Maryland Terrapins on Friday at 8:30pm and on Sunday they travel to Scranton for a 2:15pm game with huge playoff implications. You can catch all the action at Lions Hockey Live