man advantage. The Eagles wasted no time in the second period by scoring a power play goal from the stick of Matthew Maida, club president; assists by Elder and Mackereth. The shot itself was a one timer off a beautiful pass in close. Just over a minute later, the Eagles scored again in perhaps the sweetest way, off of a rebound. Colarusso's shot was blocked but NYU's goalie was unable to hold onto the puck as it slid over to Evan Crawford who shot it into the net.
The Violets answered with a goal of their own three minutes later. Twelve minutes into the period, Mike Lendino was behind the opposing net, looking for an effective way to get the puck into friendly hands. He found Justin Aquino in front of the net and made a quick pass which led to a goal for FGCU; assists Lendino and Crawford. The Eagles went on a power play two minutes later. It was unsuccessful, due in part to some dirty play by #16 of the NYU squad; play that went unnoticed by the referees.
NYU scored with 6:18 left in the period after the puck made its way from a pileup against the boards behind the net to an open man with a clear shot. FGCU's Brett Galbraith scored on a breakaway goal less than a minute later; assists by Nic Williams and John Barraco. Justin Moore scored with two minutes left after retrieving a rebound with an open view of the net; assists by Mack Hayes and Maida. A group of fans stood behind the opposing net chanting "Bailey sucks" at the NYU goalie; a tactic which appeared to be working as the period ended with the Eagles up 6-3.
The third period started with NYU on a power play carried over from the second period. They were unsuccessful but presented another chance as FGCU received two minutes for having too many players on the ice. The Eagles' penalty kill unit did just that but were dealt another blow as Mackereth was called for slashing twenty two seconds later. The Eagles kept the shots out of the net while down two men, but NYU scored a goal with a minute left on the second power play.
Galbraith scored again, this time on a rebound, six minutes into the period; assists by Williams and Barraco. NYU scored their final goal with 7:37 remaining, making the score 7-5 in FGCU's favor. The fans were then treated to something not seen often in hockey: two goals by one player in a span of 38 seconds. Eagles forward Justin Moore quickly made his way up the ice to claim a rebound, following a great shot and pass by Allan Penney and Maida, and knocked the puck into the net. FGCU continued to work the zone as they scored their final goal twenty five seconds later off another great shot by Moore; assists by Maida and Hayes.
Much like the D3 game before it, the D2 game ended with a post game brawl. A heated war of words, the chants of zealous fans, and an uncountable number of rough hits on both ends led to a fight which found one NYU player disqualified. The Eagles routed the Violets in a 9-5 victory, one which they hope to repeat in game two Saturday.
For the Saturday night game, the stands at Germain Arena's recreational rink weren't as packed as the night before, but that didn't mean the fans in attendance were any less excited for what promised to be another exciting sixty minutes of hockey. The Eagles more than fulfilled that promise as they put up a level of scoring typically unheard of in this sport.
The Violets looked to be a different team at the games opening as they scored a goal twenty eight seconds in. Six minutes later, an NYU player tripped in front of the FGCU goal and went feet first into Eagles goalie Nick Fernandez. The NYU player was then punched by an FGCU player, but the scuffle was quickly broken up. FGCU got on the scoreboard at the period's midpoint following a cinematic play and shot by Matt Maida. As Maida came up close to NYU's goalie, he was tripped but still able to maneuver the stick to the goalies weak side and knock the puck in.
Fernandez played excellent as he stopped every shot by NYU while they had the man advantage. One NYU player who had been on the nerves of fans and players alike delivered a brutal hit to John Barraco but was repaid with a double team hit of equal proportions seconds later. Towards the end of the period, Maida scored again off of a nice setup by Allan Penney and Justin Moore. Two minutes later, Penney scored after a face-off won by Moore. Unfortunately, NYU scored off a very powerful shot taken from the neutral zone with a second left in the period.
Period two started with great play by both defenses, but it didn't last long as Kevin Olsen scored during a well played 3-on-2 setup. Michael Marrero attempted a pass to Mike Sellitto who was tangled up with an NYU player. The puck slid past the two and in front of Olsen's stick before being slapped in. NYU scored a controversial goal a minute later as a group of players crashed into Fernandez in the box. FGCU answered with another face-off goal from the stick of Evan Crawford; assists by Justin Aquino and Mike Lendino.
Maida scored his hat trick goal on a play that seemed to have come from a video game. He stunned the goalie with a couple amazing deke's and was able to simply tap the puck into the net. Sadly, Sellitto took one for the team as he was injured while attempting to steal the puck from an NYU player. He went knee first into the wall and dropped. When he tried to stand, he just fell back down and was carried off the ice by teammates.
Shortly after, Nic Williams passed the puck to Kevin Mixon who faked a shot and passed to Brett Galbraith who had a clear view of the net. NYU scored on a power play with 1:48 left in the period. However, they were dealt a similar card as FGCU scored a 2PP 1:15 into the third period off a Barraco shot; assist by Moore. The puck slipped out of a pile in front of the net minutes later as Maida got his fourth goal of the game; assists by Penney and Moore.
With almost eight minutes left in the game, Christian Colarusso passed the puck to Lendino who was on a breakaway with Galbraith. Lendino faked the shot and passed, giving way to a top shelf goal by Galbraith. FGCU's Evan Crawford scored another side to side setup in front of the goal; assist by Aquino. The final goal of the game was scored seconds later by Penney by way of a head on slap shot; assists by Moore and Mack Hayes. It appeared as though NYU had given up all hope of a comeback. The game ended with FGCU up 12-4, a win which should serve as proof to everyone in the ACHA that we are serious about hockey in the sunshine state. |
