By Michael Battista (@MichaelB_96)

 

Inter-conference action picked up in The Colonial during Week 7. The two top teams in the conference, UPenn and Scranton, needed a shootout to decide a winner and a packed house rocked Lancaster Ice Rink for Millersville’s Homecoming game on Friday night.

In addition, NJIT was the only team during the weekend to play games outside the CSCHC as it made a successful trip to take on Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference Division 2 school Susquehanna University.

Read more below:

Friday, October 25

Seton Hall Pirates vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-0)

For the first time since joining the CSCHC in 2016, Rutgers University fell the Seton Hall University, 2-0. The former Big East rivals had played one-another six times prior to Friday’s game with the Scarlet Knights never surrendering more than a point in every instance. 

The shutout win was won with two pirate goalies as junior and usual starter Joe Carbone was replaced by sophomore Adam Spitz late in the first period. Their teammate, junior Thomas Healy, made sure the same could not be said for Rutgers. Seven minutes into the game, off a saucer pass from defenseman Tanner Purcel, Healy snipped a shot through the air and over the shoulder of the Rutgers’ goaltender for the eventual game winner.

Both the Pirates and Knights spend a majority of the game in the penalty boxes as the two teams tallied a grand total of 60 minutes of penalty minutes (both teams earned 10 minute misconducts). Rutgers earned the majority of penalties with 13 while the Pirates only earned nine called fouls. 

Rutgers played well to kill the majority of their penalties, but after Sean Murphy was called for his second of the game in the third period, Healy was able to knock another puck into the net off assists from Jeremy Grabiec and Luke Kirkowski.

Spitz’s first win and shutout in college earned high praise from head coach John Diaz not only for his performance but for the team around him.

“For every high quality shot the Scarlet Knights would get, Spitz would stand tall and block everything,” Diaz said in an email after the game. “(Our) defense and forwards were outstanding in limiting second and third chances against (him).”

Saturday, October 26

Scranton Royals vs UPenn Quakers (5-4) (SO)

In the first battle of undefeated teams this season, the University of Scranton and University of Pennsylvania faced off at Revolution Ice Center. The two top teams last season and best after seven weeks ended knotted up after 60 minutes and eventually needed a deciding penalty shootout goal from freshman Royal Kieran Regen to end it.

The win for Scranton moves the team back into first place in the conference. Both they and UPenn share the same number of points, 13, but the Royals edge the Quakers on both head-to-head and loss types (Scranton has an overtime loss, while UPenn has a shootout loss).

For the Royals to come away with any points, let alone two, was a testament to the team’s resilience. The visitors came out to a 0-3 lead after nearly 16 minutes thanks to goals from Will Torgerson, Jonas Toupal, and Brett Rahbany. All three players, along with assistmen Phil Foster, Hayden Stephen, and Toupal who picked up a second point on the third goal, have been some of the biggest point scorers in the conference to start this season and it continued as Scranton struggled to cope.

“Penn has a tremendous team,” Scranton head coach Stephan Fusco said afterwards. “They schooled us all night long. We bent but did not break.”

The Royals began to bounce back almost immediately, getting a goal back with under a minute to play in the first thanks to a goal by Hunter Hackling, assisted by Joseph Zani and Peter Cassidy. Heading into the second, Dylan Euvino came into his own and in total he made 53 of 57 shots during the night. Regen and Kieran Gruby both scored in the period, with John Forlenza Ii assisting on one, but the team still entered the final 20 down a goal. The Quakers’ Alex Beckert got a pass from Toupal midway through that got past Euvino.

The third period saw the most intense offense from both teams as both goalies settled in. UPenn’s David Ostrowski faced a majority of Scranton’s 27 shots in this frame while his team took chances against Euvino. With under five minutes to play, the Royals push paid off as Gruby fed Peter Cassidy for the tying goal and eventually forced overtime. 

Other Scores

Friday, Oct. 25

• Millersville University (4) vs West Chester University (5) (Shootout) (CSCHC Game)

*Homecoming game for Millersville

                        Millersville Goals:

                        1) Christopher King

                        2) Jack Driesbach (Pat McAteer, Travis Tuson)

                        3) Jack Driesbach (Travis Tuson, Brendan Ward)

                        4) Christopher King (Dylan Nassoiy and Brett Vacarelo)

 

                        West Chester Goals:

1) Alex Marino (SH) (Richard Brown)

                        2) Hunter Neiss (SH)

                        3) Hunter Neiss (2) (Eric Schwass, Joshua Stephenson)

                        4) Alex Marino (2) (PP) (Richard Brown, Gary Palmer)

                        5) Grey Rumain (Shootout winner - credited in ACHA Records)

 

Saturday, Oct. 26

• Susquehanna University (1) vs New Jersey Institute of Technology (2)

NJIT Goals:

- Not Reported

 

• West Chester University (3) vs Monmouth University (2) (OT) (CSCHC Game)

                        West Chester Goals:

                        1) Richard Brown (Hunter Neiss)

                        2) Grey Rumain (Hunter Neiss, Alex Marino)

                        3) Eric Schwass (Alex Marino) (OT)

 

                        Monmouth Goals:

                        1) Richard Sabbagh (Christopher Falzone, Thomas Ashmore)

                        2) Aidan Kroncke (Nicholas Smythe, Michael Gauthier)

 

Sunday, Oct. 27

• University of Scranton (4) vs New Jersey Institute of Technology (1) (CSCHC Game)

            Scranton Goals:

            1) Ryan Fitzmaurice (John Forlenza Ii)

            2) John Forlenza Ii (Marcus Gurega)

            3) Peter Cassidy (Joseph Zani, John Foster)

            4) Liam Feeley (John Foster)

 

            NJIT Goals:

            1) James Lyle (Jason Applin, Michael Caufield)

 

Standings Heading into Weekend 8

 

1) Scranton             6-0-1   13 PTS

2) Penn                   6-0-1   13 PTS

3) TCNJ                  5-0-0   10 PTS

4) West Chester     5-2-0    10 PTS         

5) Seton Hall           3-5-0     6 PTS    

6) Rutgers               2-2-1     5 PTS    

7) Princeton            2-6-0     4 PTS

8) Monmouth          1-3-1     3 PTS

9) Millersville          0-2-1      1 PTS

10) NJIT                 0-5-0      0 PTS