Villanova played two league games this past weekend against Temple University and Towson University.

On Friday night, the IceCats hosted Temple at Hatfield Ice. Villanova played a strong first period, scoring the only two goals of the period. Goals were scored by David Gilfillan and Jack Merecki. Gilfillan’s goal was scored on a 2 on 0 rush by a beautiful backdoor pass from Junmo Kim.

During the second period, Temple scored a goal about 6 minutes in on a power play. The next two goals of the period were Villanova’s, scored by Andre Berglund and Eddie Klein. Klein’s bar down snipe came from Tim Matthew’s hard work out of the corner, creating a Temple turnover, which laid the puck right out in the slot for Klein.

Villanova dominated the third period, scoring a total of 4 more goals. The first two were scored by Andre Berglund, followed by Jack Merecki and Tim Matthews. Berglund earned himself his first college hat trick! George Clark also had a amazing game, setting up 6 of the 8 Villanova goals. That is the most points scored by an IceCat in one game this season.

Villanova outshot Temple 50 to 40. John Persichilli was in net for the IceCats. Six out of the 8 Villanova goals were scored by freshmen. With this win, the IceCats finally secured a playoff berth!

On Sunday morning, the team made an early morning drive to Maryland to play an away game against Towson. Towson had some urgency coming into the game, since they could clinch the final playoff spot over Temple if they recorded one point in this ECHA matchup.

Both teams played a tight first period with no scoring until just 4 minutes were left in the period, when Brett Mackell scored the first goal of the game for Villanova through a screen from Timothy Arena.

The second period also took a while for the scoring the kick off. George Clark scored a goal for Villanova about 11 minutes into the period after crashing the net hard off of a faceoff play. A handful of minutes later, Marc Trotta scored the third goal for Villanova! Trotta was ripped the puck off of a pass from Tim Matthews on a 2-on-1 rush.

The first goal in the third period wasn’t until halfway through when Jack Merecki buried the puck after lurking around the backdoor. About 13 minutes into the period, David Troiano scored a goal assisted by his line mates Richie Halevy and Timothy Arena. With just 4 seconds left in the game, Marc Trotta scored his second goal of the game on the power play, chipping the puck off of the bottom of the crossbar.

Villanova defeated Towson 6-0. Freshman Ajay Fernandez goaltended the game for Villanova and earned himself his first college shutout, as well as the team’s first shutout of the season! Shots on goal were 46 for Villanova and 27 for Towson.

The IceCats will play their last weekend of regular season games this coming weekend. Villanova will host Lehigh University on Friday at 7:20 p.m. at Hatfield Ice. This is also Villanova’s senior night! Come out to join in the festivities!

On Sunday afternoon at Navesink Country Club, Villanova will play Penn State University Berks at 12:10 p.m. for an outdoor Winter Classic specialty game. This will be the team’s last game before playoffs the following weekend. Go IceCats!

By Amanda Trusky