From Duquesne Hockey
By Ben Prantl
On Friday, November 18th, at the Alpha Ice Complex, the ACHA division 1 club hockey teams for Duquesne University and West Virginia University clashed in a CHMA League game. The Dukes, thanks to two goals in the last 5 minutes and an extraordinary effort from their goaltender, Peter Siolas, came away with a much needed win on home ice.
West Virginia was on the front foot early, constantly dumping the puck deep into the Duquesne zone and using the relentless forecheck to generate pressure and mistakes, both of which they were able to generate in spades.
Duquesne was on the board early, as forward Kody Reiser skated the puck across the WVU blue line, he was poke checked and lost possession, but Joseph Reinbold, joining the attack, picked up the puck, took it towards the circle, and set off a wicked wrist shot across the goalie and scored over the blocker to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead. “I thought in the first period we actually took advantage on the counter attack when West Virginia gave up the puck,” said Duquesne head coach Conrad Waite.
At 8:24 in the period, Shane Nolan doubled the Duquesne lead after taking a long indirect pass through the neutral zone from Luke Wascak, and attacking the defender one on one, and shooting across the net to score over the blocker- the second blocker-side goal scored in the period.
West Virginia’s forecheck began to give Duquesne fits, as they were missing passes, some leading to turnovers, within their own defensive zone. “We just weren’t as consistent as we could have been in advancing the puck,” said Waite. West Virginia was equally sloppy, missing lots of passes, especially in the offensive zone.
Not much happened after in the first, until the last minute, when, at 19:09 in the period, WVU forward Jacob Kosinski tipped a point pass from Hans Watson into the ice, and the resulting bouncing puck beat Siolas. Kosinski was able to get wide open, net front, and the Dukes, who had defended against the WVU speed so hard all period, had surrendered a goal.
The second period didn’t take long to turn into the Peter Siolas show, as he faced 23 shots and didn’t allow a single goal during the 20 minutes. The best of WVU’s chances came on the penalty kill, close to halfway in the second, Duquesne turned the puck over in the neutral zone, leading to a breakaway which Siolas saved, and then a quick Duquesne turnover below the net led to yet another Siolas save. Coach Waite said “if he doesn’t make those saves, we lose.”
At 18:58 in the period, a West Virginia player received a 5 minute major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing, which would give the Dukes a huge chance to put the game to bed. However, the Dukes continued to make mistakes, leading to a WVU 2 on 0 with 30 seconds left, which Siolas was somehow able to stop.
Through two periods of hockey, West Virginia was playing better hockey, but both teams were far from perfect, and making some really sloppy mistakes. It was all to play for in the final frame.
The major penalty carried over for 3:58 in the third, but Duquesne was still unable to do anything on the powerplay. “When they [WVU] took those penalties in the second and third, we took our foot off the gas. We were playing a lot of 1-1’s instead of taking advantage of being a man up, and that’s not a recipe for success,” said Waite. Duquesne had another powerplay for the last 30 seconds in the major, but was unable to score on that one as well “If you don’t match the penalty kill’s energy,” said Waite, “you can shoot yourself in the foot, and we basically shot ourselves in the face over and over again.”
At 15:26 the Mountaineers tied the game as Leonard Haban took a sweet feed from across the ice by Kadan Knorr, through the Duquesne defense, and roofed it past Siolas. It was a great pass from behind the back, but Duquesne left enough of a gap in the middle for the pass to go through, and they left Haban wide open- more mistakes leading to goals against the Dukes.
Then, at 18:14, Duquesne forward Luke Beatty carried the puck from coast to coast, drawing a high sticking penalty at his own blue line as well, and, from behind the goal line, dropped a great pass back to Max Maddalo, who buried the chance for his second straight game with a goal. Forward Sam Hoyen would later, at 19:03, add an empty netter from the WVU blue line to finish the game with a score of 4-2 in favor of the hometown Dukes.
While Duquesne’s effort was far from perfect, they played hard enough and gutsy enough to, with some major help from Siolas, win the game. The 8-9-1 Dukes open up after the Thanksgiving break with a rematch against Robert Morris on December 2nd. Their next home game is the next day- Saturday, December 3rd, vs IUP at the Alpha Ice Complex. West Virginia is home next, also on the 3rd against Towson at Morgantown Municipal Ice Arena.
(Originally published at http://duquesnehockey.pointstreaksites.com/view/duquesnehockey/news-1338/news_542332)
