William Paterson opened up their Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA) schedule on October 12-13, 2019.  The team comes into the 2019-20 season looking to build off of their 3rd place finish a year ago.  

WPU 5 VILLANOVA 4

The Pioneers had a slow start in this Saturday night affair at Villanova.  Similar to the start at NYU, a week earlier, the Pioneers fell behind 2-0 in the first 5:28 of the game. Zach Thompson (Anchorage, AK) would help the cause with a goal to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.  The second period featured more even play, however it was the Wildcats getting the lone goal on the powerplay to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes.  The Pioneers came alive in the 3rd period and got goals from Captain Walt Keiper (Wharton, NJ) and  Adam Marvin, (New City, NY) to tie the game at 3-3.  Then it was the shorthanded heroics of Alex Cavaluzzo (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) and Tommy Bauer (Fords, NJ) that gave the Pioneers the 5-3 lead.  Jeremy Hamerquist (Woodland Park, CO) made 32 saves to give the Pioneers the 5-4 win.  Senior forward Andy DeAngelis (Poughquag, NY) had the playmaker with 3 assists.

WPU 6 TEMPLE 3

Fresh off the heels of a big 3rd period vs Villanova the night before, the Pioneers found early success against the Temple Owls.  Defensemen, Brett Connon (Westwood, NJ) and Cole Skelly (Landing, NJ) got the things rolling with 2 goals in the first 2:46.  Temple would get on the board mid way through the first period to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.  The second period was even at 1-1 on the board with freshman, Sean Murray (Rockaway, NJ) getting his first collegiate goal off a deflection in front.  The Owls would tie the game early in the 3rd period and then Scott Huber would do the rest for the Pioneers.  Huber notched a natural hat trick to close out the game, giving the Pioneers a 6-3 victory.  Cole Mulholland (Pompton Lakes, NJ) made 29 saves for the victory in net.  

Coach Ballance on the weekend, "we had a tough start in game 1, but the guys are staying with it."

The Pioneers next game is on the road at Penn State-Berks on Friday, October 18th.

The next home games are vs Temple on October 25th and Navy on October 26th.

Photo credit: Marissa Vandenberg