The IceCats took a road trip up to New York this past weekend for 3 games against Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and SUNY Cortland.

Beginning Friday night, Villanova kicked off the weekend playing Cornell. Most of the first period was quiet until just 3 minutes left when Cornell broke the silence and scored the first goal of the game from a shot around the bottom of the circles.

Villanova came back and won the second period, tying the game and scoring the only goal of the period about 4 minutes in. The goal was scored by David Gilfillian and assisted by Joey Pacifico and Patrick Keough.

During the third, Villanova’s freshman Andre Bergund scored about 5 minutes in, taking the lead! The goal was also Berglund’s first college goal! About halfway through the period, Cornell scored and tied the game up. There was no more scoring in the third, and the game went into OT.

Villanova began OT short-handed, with 40 seconds of a penalty left to kill. Just 17 seconds into OT, Eddie Klein found the tape of Tim Matthews stretching up the ice, sending him on a breakaway to bury the OT winner!

The final score of the game was a 3-2 win for Villanova. Shots on goal were 26 for Villanova and 24 for Cornell. John Persichilli was in goal for the IceCats.

On Saturday afternoon, Villanova played RIT for the second time this season. The IceCats opened strong with 2 goals in the first 3 minutes, scored by Andre Berglund and Timothy Arena. Cornell got on the scoreboard with a goal about halfway through the period. The first period ended with a 2-1 lead for Villanova.

Villanova dominated the second, scoring the only 2 goals of the period. Goals were scored by Andre Berglund and Brett Mackell.

During the third period, David Troiano scored with a snapshot in the slot about 3 minutes in. A few minutes later, RIT scored again, and that was the last goal of the game.

The final score was a 5-2 victory for Villanova. Shots on goal were 36 for Villanova and 37 for RIT. John Persichilli goaltended the game for Villanova.

Late Sunday morning, the boys played SUNY Cortland for their third game of the week. The first period was tight with no scoring at all.

Villanova took advantage of the second period and pulled ahead of Cortland 3-0. Villanova’s goals were scored by Tim Matthews and Brett Mackell (2).

A minute into the third period, Brett Mackell scored his third goal of the game, completing a hat trick! This goal was assisted by Timothy Blajda with a beautiful backdoor pass, which earned him his 3rd assist of the game! Freshman Blajda now has 12 points in 17 games.

About 6 minutes into the third, Cortland scored their first goal of the game. After 10 straight minutes of penalty troubles for the IceCats, John Persichilli left the net and Trevor Scianna went in for his first college game. Taking on 10 shots in the last few minutes, he stopped all but one of them, and Cortland earned a goal with just a minute left.

Ultimately, the IceCats won a third straight away game with a 4-2 victory over SUNY Cortland. Shots on goal were 26 for Villanova and 49 for SUNY Cortland.

Next weekend, Villanova will have 2 league games on Friday and Saturday night. Friday will be home at Hatfield Ice against Lehigh University at 7:10 p.m., and Saturday will be away at Class of 23 rink against Drexel University at 7:45 p.m. Come support the team and cheer them on in their climb to earn a playoff spot!

By Amanda Trusky