By Michael Battista / @MichaelB_96

After 14 weeks the Colonial Cup playoffs are set as the final two teams punched their tickets last weekend. Both Millersville University and West Chester University followed up tough losses with conference wins that will see them compete in Lawrenceville this February. Additionally, teams at the top continue to jockey for position in hopes of earning a first round bye.

TCNJ Lions Roll with Two Big Wins

The College of New Jersey ended the weekend with big wins for both the conference standings and beyond. A 4-1 win over the University of Maryland on Friday was followed up with a 3-1 road win over the University of Scranton that has given the Lions critical breathing room in the hunt for a playoff bye.

Against the Terps of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association, TCNJ only needed two minutes to get rolling. After taking a tripping penalty, Maryland was unable to stop Travis Beni from feeding Dan Martin for the opening goal to give the home team a lead that they would not relinquish. The junior year forward added a second goal to his night in the first half of the second period bringing his season points total to 16. Later on in the first, sophomore forward Patrick Coyle notched his second goal of the season when Larry Kruglyak and Patrick Willever set him up for a nice move in the front of the net.

Following a Maryland goal midway through the second period thanks to a breakaway, senior forward Kris Hastings responded with his 17th goal of the season, assisted by Anthony DeAlto and Andrew Lem, to once again give the Lions a three goal lead. A waved off TCNJ goal late in the third would be the closest either team got to scoring again as the Lions improved to an overall record of 13-8-0-1 with goalie  Mike Lojewski stopping 30 of 31 to improve to 8-7 on the season. 

Sunday’s conference game against TCNJ and the University of Scranton was huge for both teams in terms of playoff implications. With both teams tied at 23 points, and the Lions already holding a win over the Royals, a win by Scranton was crucial if the team hoped to earn a bye in the Colonial Cup playoffs for a second straight year. In the end, Lojewski played the critical role stopping 44 of 45 shots against the Royals.

Scranton head coach Stephan Fusco said after the game that both goalies were outstanding, but Lojewski in particular “robbed” his team with excellent play. 

Senior team captain Marc Tietjen scored two power play goals during the game, starting with one halfway through the first period to give the Lions a lead. The long distance sniper shot, assisted by Travis Beni and Dan Martin, got past the glove side of Dylan Euvino through traffic. The home team rallied though and before the first intermission John Forlenza II rebounded a loose puck into the back of the net.

An early second period surge by the Royals threatened but never paid-off as shots, including a few open net opportunities, failed to score. As penalties from both teams accumulated the game slowed down. In the final minute, Anthony DeAlto tapped in shot off an odd-man rush to give the Lions the lead once again. Late penalties sealed the game for the Royals as Tiejen scored early in the final period thanks to a 5-on-3 power play for the final score.

The Lions will play Drexel this friday in a non-conference game before hosting NJIT in its final home game of the season. Scranton will host Seton Hall on Sunday in a conference game that is must-win if the team wants any chance of a playoff bye.

Millersville and West Chester Round out the Playoff Field for 2020

Both Millersville University and West Chester University will be part of the 2020 Colonial Cup playoffs as both teams officially made the cut last weekend. This will be the sixth playoff appearance for the Mauraders, who have qualified for every CSCHC playoff since the conference began, while West Chester will be back for a fourth time after failing to qualify last year.

Millersville goalie Garret Baldacci said after the game said the berth means a ton for a team that started the year without a win for the first two months.

“Clinching [a playoff spot] was huge for us,” Baldacci said. “We had a shaky start but we came together and did what we had to. Our goal is always to go as far as we can and we're excited to get into playoffs and make an impact.”

While both teams started the weekend with losses on Friday night, West Chester was able to earn a point in an overtime loss to Monmouth University. That point meant the Rams, sitting at 17 points, could not be overtaken by Seton Hall University in the standings and won’t finish the season under sixth place. 

Despite the point, West Chester head coach Patrick Wilson said afterwards that he wasn’t happy with how the game turned out.

“(It) was a lot of run and gun type of game,” Wilson said. “Not a game we like to play but glad we were able to get a point.”

Forward Alex Marino had a stellar night against the Hawks. The Millersville points leader scored a hat-trick and earned an assist for four points and increased his season total to 35. However his team struggled to stay out of the penalty box which gave Monmouth plenty of advantages. The home team went 3 for 4 on power play opportunities while the combined efforts of both Carson Rooney and Anthony Gizzi did just enough in net to give Monmouth the win.

Forwards Richard Sabbagh and Anthony Starzi both had four point games for the Hawks, with the latter scoring two goals including the overtime game off an assist from Sabbagh. The team rounded out the weekend with a 4-2 win over NJIT on Saturday, with goals from Alex Marino, Kenneth Kissinger, and two from Hunter Neiss.

Millersville on the other hand needed a win to clinch against Seton Hall on Saturday night. The Pirates had enough potential points to overtake the Marauders should they win out while their opponent loses out, and a win would have put Hall one point behind Millersville. Coming off a hard loss to then-11th ranked Rider University of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association the night before, the visitors did not take long to make themselves at home in Richard J.Codey Arena.

“Friday night we came out really slow and that loss was a much needed slap in the face for our team,” said David Andrews, who scored both power play goals in the loss to Rider. “Saturday we knew what was on the line and we were all focused on putting our destiny in our own hands.”

The visitors quickly made themselves at home against the Pirates at  Richard J.Codey Arena. Millersville scored six unanswered goals and added one more before the final whistle for the 7-1 win. The Pirates’ struggles have seen inexperience being a main focus. Multiple failed penalty kills put the nail in the coffin for the Pirate’s season. 

Tyler Browne, who scored twice in the third period against the Pirates, knew his team had to rebound like they’d done before just to get in this position.

“After the Rider game we knew we had to get back to playing our game like we did at the end of the first semester and we came out and did that the next night,” Browne said.

Andrews picked up a third goal for the weekend while Travis Tuson, Cody Leisey, and Brenden Ward rounded out the scoring with the latter picking up two scores.

“The energy was really high after the [Seton Hall] game,” Browne admitted. “It definitely feels good to win a big game like that especially when everyone is contributing and putting up points.”

Both teams still have games to play before the playoff that can determine who their first round opponent will be. The two schools are locked in a battle with Rutgers (and possibly Scranton) to determine the four through sixth seeds. The Marauders will host the Scarlet Knights on Saturday while the Rams host the Royals in what are critical games.

Full Scores

Friday, Jan. 24

University of Scranton vs Rowan University (D2)

    *Cancelled*

Drexel University (D2) (7) vs University of Pennsylvania (6)

UPenn Goals:

1: Alex Beckert (Brett Rahbany)

2: Robert Blend (Brett Rahbany)

3: Tyler Mcgoldrick (Christian Rodriguez)

4: Will Torgerson (Blake Vastola)

5: Phil Foster (Alex Beckert)

6: Robert Blend (2) (Alex Beckert, David Ostrowski)

 

Monmouth University (8) vs West Chester University (7) (OT) (CSCHC Game)

Monmouth Goals:

1: Zachary Zamora (PP) (Richard Sabbagh, Thomas Ashmore)

2: Nicholas Smythe (PP) (Anthony Starzi, Todd Zellars)

3: Richard Sabbagh (Christopher Falzone, Zachary Zamora)

4: Thomas Ashmore (PP) (Zachary Zamora, Richard Sabbagh)

5: Anthony Starzi (Donald Califano)

6: Donald Califano (SH) (Michael Russ)

7: Nicholas Smythe (2) (Donald Califano, Anthony Starzi)

8: Anthony Starzi (2) (Overtime Winner) (Richard Sabbagh)

West Chester Goals:

1: Alex Marino (Hunter Neiss)

2: Hunter Neiss

3: Alex Marino (2) (SH) (Gabriel Darragh)

4: Alex Marino (3) (SH) (Deryck Zerby)

5: Trevor Yeager (Diquan Jackson)

6: Grey Rumain (Hunter Neiss)

7: Adam Johnson (PP) (Alex Marino)

 

The College of New Jersey (4) vs The University of Maryland (1)

TCNJ Goals:

1: Dan Martin (PP) (Travis Beni)

2: Patrick Coyle (Lawrence Krugliak, Patrick Willever)

3: Dan Martin (2) (PP) (Matt Lojewski, Ryan Anderson)

4: Kristopher Hastings (Anthony DeAlto,Andrew Lem)

 

Rider University (7) vs Millersville University (2)

Millersville Goals:

1: David Andrews (Christopher Henn, Jack Dreisbach)

2: David Andrews (2) (PP)

Saturday, Jan. 25

New Jersey Institute of Technology (2) vs West Chester University (4) (CSCHC Game)

NJIT Goals:

1: Ted Lee (James Lyle)

2: Jason Applin (Samuel Porter, Michael Caufield)

West Chester Goals:

1: Hunter Neiss (Grey Rumain)

2: Hunter Neiss (2) (SH) (Alex Marino)

3: Kenneth Kissinger (PP) (Alex Marino, Grey Rumain)

4: Alex Marino (Trevor Yeager)

Rutgers University (4) vs the University of Pennsylvania (7) (CSCHC Game)

Rutgers Goals:

1: Anthony Margiotta (Nicholas Monticchio, Sean Murphy)

2: Kyle Smith (PP) (Anthony Poppalardo, Joshua LoGiudice)

3: Joshua LoGiudice (SH)

4: Anthony Margiotta (2) (Branden Kushnir)

UPenn Goals:

1: Alex Beckert (Brett Rahbany)

2: Jesse Davis (Nicholas Eissler, Jerry Xiang)

3: Andrew Lane

4: Brett Rahbany (PP) (Brian Begley, Alex Beckert)

5: Brett Rahbany (2) (PP) (Will Torgerson, Robert Blend)

6: Hayden Stephan (Will Torgerson, Brian Begley)

7: Brett Rahbany (3) (Robert Blend, Alex Beckert)

 

Millersville University (7) vs Seton Hall University (1) (CSCHC Game)

Seton Hall Goal:

1: Hayden Rossi (Nick Mangano, Benjamin Bala)

Millersville Goals:

1: Travis Tuson (Curtis Jones, Brett Vacarelo)

2: David Andrews

3: Brenden Ward (Niklas Latronica)

4: Brenden Ward (2)

5: Tyler Browne (Brenden Ward)

6: Tyler Browne (2) (Brenden Ward)

7: Cody Leisey (Griffin Helm, Niklas Latronica)

Sunday, Jan. 26

The College of New Jersey (3) vs University of Scranton (1) (CSCHC Game)

Scranton Goal:

1: John Forlenza II (Liam Feeley, Kieran Gruby)

TCNJ Goals:

1: Marc Tietjen (PP) (Travis Beni, Dan Martin)

2: Anthony DeAlto (Kevin Broskie)

3: Marc Tietjen (2) (PP) (Anthony DeAlto, Dan Martin)

 

New Jersey Institute of Technology (7) vs Monmouth University (3) (CSCHC Game)

NJIT Goals:

1: Michael Caufield (Jason Applin, Samuel Porter)

2: Dalton Smith

3: James Lyle (PP) (Samuel Porter)

4: Jeffrey Patterson (James Lyle, Samuel Porter)

5: James Lyle (2) (PP) (Ted Lee)

6: Dalton Smith (2) (PP)

7: James Lyle (3) (SH)

Monmouth Goals:

1: Michael Gauthier (Richard Sabbagh)

2: Anthony Starzi (Michael Gauthier, Donald Califano)

3: Anthony Starzi (2) (Thomas Ashmore)

 

Conference Standings after 14 Weeks

Playoff Notes

• A UPenn win and Scranton loss will eliminate the Royals from first place contention

• A UPenn win, TCNJ win, and Scranton loss will eliminate the Royals from first round bye contention in the playoffs

• A TCNJ win and Rutgers loss officially eliminates the Scarlet Knights from first round bye contention in the playoffs

• The first three seeds (UPenn, TCNJ, Scranton) and the last three seeds (Rutgers, West Chester, Millersville) are all too close to call

CSCHC Teams in the ACHA Southeast Rankings

* Updated with latest ACHA Rankings from January 30th, 2020

• 17) UPenn

• 21) TCNJ

• 28) Rutgers

• 30) Scranton

• 37) Millersville

• 40) NJIT

• 41) Seton Hall

• 42) Princeton

• N/A) West Chester

• N/A) Monmouth