Hockey defeats Catholic in physical game

Adam Baker/ The Captain's Log

After a nightmare of a second period against the Catholic Cardinals last Saturday night, the Captains went into the locker room knowing they had their work cut out for them in the final frame. What had been a 1-0 lead had quickly turned into 3-1 deficit, thanks to three unanswered goals by the visitors from Washington, D.C.

Much to the delight of the fans packed shoulder to shoulder at the Iceplex, the Captains answered the bell in the third, scoring three unanswered goals of their own to come away with an improbable 4-3 victory.

Sophomore forward Brian Capranica started the scoring for the Captains, planting a rebound in the back of the net to give CNU a 1-0 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first period.

The remainder of the period saw no goals by either team, but plenty of hard collisions and pushing and shoving on both sides. CNU sophomore goalie Jacob Giordano added several key saves to preserve the Captains’ advantage, and the Captains went into the locker room nursing a one goal lead.

The Cardinals would score early and often in the second period however, and the first goal came at 16:21, via a deflection off a centering pass. The second came less than 90 seconds later, after the Captains were hit with a penalty and were forced to play a man down. The power play goal gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead and quieted the CNU fans who were gathered tightly around the outside of the rink.

Things would only get worse for the Captains in the second period. Moments after Catholic scored the go-ahead goal, Capranica was checked hard into the glass and fell motionless to the ice. Several CNU players quickly retaliated, and a scuffle quickly ensued. Capranica eventually skated off under his own power and would eventually return, but play was halted for around 10 minutes before the referees finally decided to give the Cardinals a five minute major.

With a man advantage, the Captains set up in the Cardinals’ zone and pounded slap shot after slap shot into the chest of the Catholic goaltender. Their effort would ultimately turn up fruitless and several minutes after the man advantage expired, the Cardinals went five-hole on Giordano to take a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the second period.

Thanks to penalties on both sides, each team started the final period with four men on the ice. The Captains did not wait long to start their comeback as freshman forward Shane Kehl scored less than four minutes into the period to bring the Captains to within a goal.

“That goal was a huge momentum boost,” said senior forward Mark Dungan.

The Cardinals were hit with a tripping penalty less than 30 seconds later, giving the Captains a man advantage and a prime opportunity to even the score. Sophomore defenseman Matt Scott capitalized on the opportunity, beating the Catholic goaltender with a nifty wrist shot with 15:21 left in the third.

With 12:48 remaining, CNU was saddled with a tripping penalty that brought the Captains’ penalty kill into the spotlight. The group had several key clears to keep the Cardinals offense at bay and Giordano made a crucial save on a wide-open wrist shot. The penalty kill paved the way for the offense to get the game-winning goal only minutes later.

With seven minutes remaining in the game, freshman forward Brandon Finch took a pass from a teammate and planted a back-handed goal in the back of the net to give the Captains the lead.

The Captains had a chance to extend their lead on a breakaway several minutes later, but a great save by the Catholic goaltender kept the score at 4-3.

Giordano would seal the deal for the Captains down the stretch, making several key saves over the last five minutes of play.

Senior forward Tyler Bemis stated “We had to overcome some difficult obstacles but we’re a great group and we knew what we had to do.”

“It was a huge team victory,” said Dungan. “Everyone contributed to the win one way or another.”

The hard-fought victory came after the Captains pounded Northern Virginia Community College on Friday, 18-1 at the Iceplex. Bemis and Finch both notched hat-tricks in the contest, freshman forward Alex Velosky added two goals, and nine other players scored a goal.

With the win on Saturday, the Captains’ record now sits at 3-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Catholic fell to 4-1 with the loss. The Captains travel to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 6 for a rematch against Catholic, then to Baltimore on Oct. 7 to take on Loyola University Maryland.

Posted by Mike Schoeffel on Oct 5 2011. Filed under Hockey, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.