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FGCU Hockey Survives New York Tour
Eagles Struggle in the Big City with a 1-2-0-1 Record!
November 13, 2006
After a grueling four day trip to New York, the Ice Eagles only managed to earn one win. The intense weekend series was a huge opportunity for the Eagles to move up in the next round of the ACHA rankings, which will be released at the end of November.  In the first rankings, which were released last week, the Eagles were #3 in the Southeast division - a very solid starting point. On this NY trip, the FGCU hockey team faced very strong competition, playing two of the top teams in the ACHA.

Thursday evening, the Eagles took on the #2 team in the Southeast region, the Wagner College Seahawks. Driving to Staten Island, the hockey team arrived at a bubble-shaped vintage rink where they were crammed into one locker room. In spite of the cramped conditions, the Eagles fought a hard game with the Wagner Seahawks. The game remained scoreless until the last seven minutes of the third period, when the Seahawks were able to create some confusion in front of the Eagles netminder Andrew Kobrin and bang home a rebound goal. Their goal remained unanswered until Allan Penney, with fifteen seconds remaining on the clock, received a pass from linemate Justin Moore in the slot and buried a bullet in the top corner behind the Seahawks goalkeeper. As the buzzer sounded signaling the end of regulation time, the team prepared for overtime. The Eagles fell victim to a bad neutral zone turnover three minutes into the overtime session, and watched as #20 from Wagner, Dayne Gluting, capitalized on a breakaway opportunity earning the Seahawks a 2-1 overtime victory.

Friday, the Eagles were anxious to take on the Siena Saints in Albany.  After a grueling four hour drive north to Albany from Newark, the Eagles came out sluggish in the first period. Siena would take adavantage of the slow start by FGCU early in the first period, scoring a highlight reel goal only seconds into the game that beat Eagle's goalie Kobrin on the short side top corner. The Eagles would end the first period only down by a goal. After over 40 giveaways and perhaps one of the worst periods of the team's season, FGCU was lucky to only be down one. Coach Steve Jensen was less than impressed with the efforts of the team and let the team know about it during the intermission. Unfortunately, the Eagles would not respond and the team would show more of the same in the second period giving up two goals off turnovers. Down 3-0 with five minutes remaining in the second period, Allan Penney, was able to slip one past the Saint's netminder after some hard work by linemates Justin Moore and Matt Maida. Even with the Eagles on the board it was becomming clear that nothing would come easy for FGCU. After being outplayed for two periods, the Eagles came out in the third in hopes of at least giving Siena a game. Justin Moore, with some tremendous individual effort, stole the puck from a Saints defenseman and scored a great short-handed goal to bring the Eagles within one goal. In an effort to try and even up the contest, FGCU pulled goalie Andrew Kobrin with just over a minute left to play. Unfortunately, the Saints sealed the deal with an empty net goal thanks in part to yet another Eagle turnover. Siena went on to win the game 4-2.
After a relaxing day spent resting and recuperating, the Eagles were determined to get their first win of the trip on Saturday night. The Eagles travelled to Little Falls, New Jersey to take on the Montclair State Red Hawks at Floyd Hall Arena. It was clear from the drop of the puck that the Red Hawks were a very physical team. FGCU showed signs of life early in the game and seemed to have found their legs for the first time on the trip. It became clear after the opening minutes that FGCU was a much faster team than the Redhawks and just two minutes into the first period, rookie Uthman Yamusenor started off the Eagles' scoring with a bullet slap shot from the high slot which found the back of the Montclair net. Allan Penney, Brett Galbraith (2), and Zach Messer continued the drive as FGCU would score five unanswered goals to take a 5-0 lead into the locker room. In the second period, the Red Hawks bounced back with two strong goals and reminded FGCU that the first period was certainly not going to happen again. Going into the third, Montclair had FGCU back on their heels, but the Eagles responded with some solid defensive play only allowing one goal on the power play. Matt Maida would score some insurance for the Eagles netting the seventh and final goal of the game for FGCU to seal the victory by a score of 7-3 over the Redhawks.

The win on Saturday night was a much-needed boost for the Eagles as they prepared to take on Stonybrook on Sunday night. Stonybrook is the #1 ranked team in the Northeast region and they played like a top team in the ACHA. The game started slow with no goals coming until midway through the first period. The Seawolves would bury a rocket slapshot past Jordan Hume after a bad turnover in the Eagle's zone on the powerplay. Stony Brook would not look back and built a four goal lead heading into the third period. In the final frame of a tough weekend, the Eagles were determined to at the very least take a period from the perennial powerhouse Stonybrook team. Christian Colarusso would lead the Eagle's last period efforts with a powerplay goal from the blueline that fooled the Stonybrook netminder and put FGCU on the board. Energized by the goal, the Eagles built some momentum controlling the play for most of the third period. After some hard work down low by the Eagles in the dying seconds of the game, Maida fed Justin Moore in the slot who was able to deflect the puck in the back of the net to give the Eagles their second goal on the night. Unfortunately, it was a too little, too late for FGCU who would suffer their third loss of the weekend by a score of 4-2 in favor of Stonybrook.
The Wagner Seahawks are currently ranked #2 in the Southeast Division.
Eagles netminder Andrew Kobrin opened the NY series with a solid game against Wagner.
Allan Penney scored with fifteen seconds left against Wagner to send the game to OT.
The Siena Saints capitalized on a poor performance from the FGCU Eagles.
Justin Moore had a solid  weekend in New York, netting 3 goals and notching 1 assist.
SUNY-Stonybrook proved why they are one of the best teams in the ACHA..
Matt Maida led the Eagles against Montclair State with 1 goal and 2 assists.
Mike Sellitto was shaken up by a big hit during the Montclair State game in Little Falls, NJ.