By Michael Battista / @MichaelB_96

Hockey has returned to the Colonial States College Hockey Conference as the push for the playoffs kicks into high gear. While most of the games this past week were against non-conference opponents as teams test themselves against new competition, the few games that did impact the standings were critical as a fourth school has clinched its place in the postseason.

For four teams in the conference playoff dreams are still alive, though some are hanging on by just a thread. Another team, Princeton, finished up its regular season last weekend as it faced its final conference opponent; TCNJ.

Additionally, a number of games were not played. TCNJ and Seton Hall’s conference game on Saturday was cancelled due to snow and will be made-up. NJIT was scheduled to play the ACCHL’s St. Joseph's University in Philly but that game was also canceled with no current plan to reschedule it. Finally, West Chester was originally set to have two games against the University of Pittsburgh over the weekend however the latter’s mid-season folding canceled that.

 

TCNJ & Rutgers Battle in Home n’ Home Series, Knights Clinch CSCHC Playoff Spot

The College of New Jersey and Rutgers University played each other twice in the span of three days, and while both teams earned wins against one-another the Scarlet Knights took home three critical points against the defending conference champions. A win on Friday, 3-2, and shootout loss on Sunday, 5-4, by the Knights puts the team in fourth place with 19 points meaning they can no longer finish below sixth.

Rutgers has played in the CSCHC playoffs every season since joining the conference for the 2016–17 season.

The first game in 2020 for both teams was a dominant display for the Knights against a regularly difficult foe. At home in Somerset NJ, the team found the back of the net first when Sean Murphy slammed in a screened point shot to take the lead. After the intermission, both teams returned chances against one-another but Rutgers’ Luke Ciocca was the only player to score halfway through off a rebound giving his team more space to breath as time went on. TCNJ goalie  Mike Lojewski let in a 3rd goal, of the 32 shots he faced, midway through the third period when Anthony Margiotta capitalized on a breakaway. TCNJ mounted a comeback late in the game with goals from Kris Hastings and Anthony DeAlto but it was not enough as the Lions fell for the first time in regulation this season.

Sunday’s rematch started as an odd affair, with TCNJ’s Saturday game against Seton Hall canceled due to weather and the game against Rutgers moved to Grundy Arena in Bristol, PA. From a competitive perspective though this game between the two sides was much more even. The two teams traded goals in the first seven minutes with Branden Kushnir, assisted by Anthony Margiotta, scoring first only for the Lions’ Ryan Anderson to capitalize on a power play off an assist by Andrew Lem. The momentum swung back to the Knights two minutes later when Justin Dalonzo centered a pass to Robert Proko who tipped it in past Lojewski.

The Lions held the advantage on offense heading into the second period, outshooting the Knights 18-9, but it took continuous pushing to get past Steven Gibilisco in the opposing net. Andrew Summa and Dan Martin bookended the second period with scores, assisted by Patrick Coyle, Kevin Broskie, and Anderson respectively as the offense picked up for the home team. With 29 saves Gibilisco was under pressure but got help when Anthony Margiotta scored on a power play meaning the two teams went into the third period tied, 3-3. That final stretch wasn’t able to decide a winner as both teams scored unassisted goals, Nicholas Monticchio for Rutgers on a penalty kill and freshman Mike Hannigan for TCNJ who picked up his third career score. After a scoreless overtime, the hero roll fell to Hastings after neither team could score after three rounds.

The win moved TCNJ into second place over Scranton with the Lions still having one-game in hand over both the Royals and UPenn. The team has a critical conference game against Scranton this weekend that will play a major role in determining which of the two schools will have a first round bye come playoff time.

 

Millersville Wraps-Up Three Game Kentucky Road-Trip

Over the weekend, Millersville University traveled south and took part in a series of games in the state of Kentucky. The first was against the University of Louisville on Friday before the Marauders played the University of Kentucky on back-to-back nights and held a lead against them before running out of gas.

For Kentucky, the two games were the final home games of the season and attracted a large crowd as senior members of the team were honored. Goalie Garret Baldacci has never seen an environment like that when it comes to away fans and experiencing it with his teammates was amazing. 

"The trip as a whole was unforgettable,” Baldacci said. “It was amazing to be around our team for that extended time period and it really brought the boys together and helped the new guys mesh right in. The atmosphere during the University of Kentucky games was amazing, we do not often see opposing fans like that outside of our own home games and it was fun to be on the other side of it."

On the ice, the team started off shakily against the Cardinals, losing 6-2 while getting outshot 58 to 26, but against the Wildcats things began to click. In Friday’s game (technically Saturday morning), the Marauders took a three goal lead into the first intermission thanks to scores from Christopher Henn, Niklas Latronica, and Tyler Browne while Baldacci held strong in net. The visitors took advantage of numerous power play chances and held the puck a majority of the period.

The game started to swing away in the second period as both teams began to deal with penalties equally. By the end of the night, Millersville would see the box eight times with seven coming in the final forty minutes. While Kentucky dealt with its own fair share of penalties the home team was able to take advantage more and pushed buttons enough to get the result in its favor and held the Marauders scoreless for the rest of the game and scored eight unanswered goals.

If the first game was about hot and cold play from Millersville, the second, which fell on senior night for Kentucky, was about emotion. After going down 3-1 after the first period, including a game-tying goal by David Andrews, tempers began to flair up. In the final 40 minutes Millersville was forced to play down a man for a majority of the game as it earned 14 seperate penalties (64 total penalty minutes) including four 10 minute majors and multiple fights.

Past the 7-1 loss players like Hayden Folfas were still grateful for the chance to play different, highly skilled teams that he and his teammates might not ever get the chance to compete against otherwise.

"Despite the tough games, it was a once in a lifetime experience,” Folfas said. “Realistically, the only time we would ever see those two teams is in regionals or nationals so to get to play games down there was awesome. Not many people get to say that they have been to Kentucky to play hockey."

Millersville will keep up the non-conference play this weekend when it takes on Rider University in a game that could affect ACHA Southeast rankings before visiting Seton Hall in a game that could clinch the team’s place in the CSCHC postseason.

 

Monmouth Earns Non-Conference Win

On Sunday, Monmouth University had its only game of the weekend as it took on ACHA Division 3 team Stevens Institute of Technology. Despite already being eliminated from playoff contention the team battled hard against a team currently in the playoff picture for the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Transfer Anthony Starzi had a four point game for the Hawks, scoring the third goal for his team and assisting on three of the others in the nail-biting win. Despite Todd Zellars getting the home team on the board within two minutes the Ducks took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The back and forth was only possible thanks to Carson Rooney’s play between the posts keeping the D3 side from gaining too much ground. Goals from Robert Goehring, Starzi, and Zachary Zamora made it a 4-4 game and with under a minute to play it was Richie Sabbagh who came up with the game winner to finish off a threescore period for his team. While Stevens played well, late game penalties cost them while Monmouth’s newer face and seasoned vets came together to produce.

The Hawks will play two CSCHC games this weekend against West Chester and NJIT.

 

Full Scores:

Saturday, Jan. 11; University of Scranton (3) vs Drexel University (D2) (2) (OT)

Scranton Goals:

1. John Forlenza II

2. Marcus Gurega (SH) (Thomas Delgaizo)

3. Matthew Piro (OT Winner)

 

Thursday, Jan. 16; University of Louisville (6) vs Millersville University (2)

Millersville Goals:

1. Niklas Latronica (Griffin Helm, Jacob Shugar)

2. Christopher King (Tyler Browne)

 

Friday, Jan. 17; Stevenson University (9) vs University of Scranton (1)

Scranton Goal:

1. Benjamin Pawlak (Michael Laforte, Thomas Murphy)

 

Rutgers University (3) vs The College of New Jersey (2) (CSCHC Game)

Rutgers University Goals:

1. Sean Murphy

2. Luke Ciocca

3. Anthony Margiotta

TCNJ Goals:

1. Kris Hastings (Andrew Lem)

2. Anthony DeAlto (SH) (Ryan Anderson, Jameson Dugan)

 

University of Kentucky (8) vs Millersville University (3)

Millersville Goals:

1. Chris Henn

2. Nik Latronica

3. Tyler Browne

 

Saturday, Jan. 18; St. Joseph's University vs New Jersey Institute of Technology

*Cancelled due to snow*

 

Seton Hall University vs The College of New Jersey (CSCHC Game)

*Postponed due to snow*

 

University of Kentucky (7) vs Millersville University (1)

Millersville Goal:

1. David Andrews

 

Sunday, Jan. 19; Drexel University (D2) (6) vs University of Scranton (3)

Scranton Goals:

1. Matthew Piro

2. John Foster (PP)

3. John Foster (2) (PP) ( Matthew Piro , Owen Mueller )

 

The College of New Jersey (5) vs Rutgers University (4) (SO) (CSCHC Game)

TCNJ Goals:

1. Ryan Anderson (PP) (Andrew Lem)

2. Andrew Summa (Patrick Coyle , Kevin Broskie)

3. Dan Martin (Ryan Anderson)

4. Michael Hannigan

5. Kristopher Hastings (Shootout Winning Goal)

Rutgers Goals:

1. Branden Kushnir (Anthony Margiotta)

2. Robert Proko (Justin Dalonzo)

3. Anthony Margiotta (PP)

4. Nicholas Monticchio (SH)

 

Seton Hall University (6) vs Princeton University (2) (CSCHC Game)

Princeton Goals:

1. Evan Majic

2. (Not Reported)

Seton Hall Goals:

1. Jeremy Grabiec (Luke Kirkowski, Thomas Healy)

2. Cam Toussaint (Hayden Rossi, Thomas Healy)

3. Thomas Healy (Hayden Rossi, Ben Bala)

4. Thomas Healy (2)

5. Cam Toussaint (2)

6. Cam Toussaint (3) (Max Allen, Nick Serapiglia)

 

Monmouth University (5) vs Stevens Institute of Technology (D3) (4)

Monmouth Goals:

1. Todd Zellars

2. Rob Goehring

3. Anthony Starzi

4. Zach Zamora

5. Richie Sabbagh