From The Statesman
By Braden D’Aniello
While facing one of the nation’s best squads, the Stony Brook hockey team was tossed around and swept in a two-game set.
This past weekend, the Seawolves (3-3-1, 2-1-1 ACCHL) traveled south to LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg, Va. for a two-game series with the No. 5 Liberty Flames (11-1-0). Stony Brook was dominated in all areas of the ice, as it was routed 6-1 in the opener on Friday, Oct. 24, before being blown out 8-3 on Saturday, Oct. 25.
During Friday night’s contest, the Seawolves found themselves down big early and were never able to recover.
Following a penalty by winger Matt Anastasio in the opening minutes of play, the Flames power play broke through with the opening goal. After setting up in the offensive zone, Liberty center Luke Munroe made a slick behind-the-back pass to winger Michael Debrito in the right circle, who roofed a shot over goaltender Steven Reganato for a man-advantage strike to give Liberty a 1-0 just 2:10 into the game.
Later in the opening frame, Liberty added to its lead. A shot from the point by Liberty defenseman Nathan Cox was stopped, but the puck was left astray in front for winger Brad Barker, who took a turnaround shot that leaked through Reganato, giving the Flames a 2-0 advantage at the 12:44 mark of the first period.
To open the second period, Liberty refused to relinquish its attack on the offensive front. An early penalty by the Flames provided an outlet for Stony Brook to get back into the contest, but the Seawolves saw things go from bad to worse.
On the power play, Stony Brook fell asleep in the offensive zone, allowing Liberty defenseman Nicholas Pomerleau to lift the puck out of the zone. The clear lead to a breakaway for winger Mac Ratzlaff, who slid a shot through the five hole of Reganato for a shorthanded marker to make the score 3-0.
Down by three goals, the Seawolves got on the board off the rush. Following a neutral-zone turnover forced by defenseman Jackson Haskins, winger Peter Labos carried the puck into the offensive zone and let a shot go that evaded Liberty goaltender Nicholas Bernstein, giving Stony Brook some life at 3-1 going into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Despite the goal from Labos giving the Seawolves hope going into the final frame, the third period saw the wheels completely fall off the bus for Stony Brook.
Just 4:06 into the third period, a defensive-zone turnover forced by Liberty defenseman Luke Anderson led to another Flames goal. On the rush up the ice, Barker found center Kal Essenmacher between the circles, who ripped a shot over Reganato’s shoulder to restore the Flames’ three-goal cushion early in the third period.
With the momentum to start the period, the Flames began to pour it on. Just 3:16 after Essenmacher’s goal, Liberty defenseman Michael Adamek took a pass from fellow defenseman Connor Diem and teed up a slap shot, blowing it past Reganato up high on the short side for his first goal of the season to extend the Flames’ lead to 5-1.
A few minutes later, Liberty put the icing on the cake with yet another goal. On a pass out of the defensive zone, Cox found Barker in the neutral zone, who nudged a pass to Essenmacher flying up the ice with momentum. Essenmacher beat Stony Brook’s defense before faking out and tucking a goal past Reganato to add to the onslaught.
With the scoreboard reading 6-1, the game came to a merciful end for the Seawolves, who were torn apart in the opener.
There were not many positives in the contest for Stony Brook outside of Labos’ goal. The Seawolves’ big guns were kept in check and Reganato, despite not having much help from his defense, allowed six goals on 46 shots.
Stony Brook failed to convert on either of its two power plays and surrendered a shorthanded goal. On the other side of special teams, the Seawolves failed to kill off their lone penalty.
Despite the light workload, Bernstein got the win in net, stopping 22 of 23 shots.
In the finale of the set on Saturday, the Seawolves fared no better, allowing seven straight goals en route to a 8-3 loss.
For the second straight game, Stony Brook found itself down early. Off the rush, Liberty winger Aidan Carney slid a pass to winger Ryan Finch, who slammed a shot past Reganato to give Liberty a 1-0 lead just 4:32 into the game.
Despite being down yet again, the Seawolves were able to tie the game, thanks to a pair of penalties committed by Liberty. In the closing seconds of a two-man advantage, winger Justin Nakagawa set up defenseman Charles Poirier at the top of the slot, who fired a wrister past goaltender Konrad Kausch for his first collegiate goal to deadlock the game at 1-1.
Despite going into the locker room tied at one apiece, the second period turned out to be a killer for Stony Brook, as it was dominated from start to finish.
Following a penalty by center Lorenzo Marra, Liberty’s power play got a chance to answer back. The Flames utilized crisp puck movement, as Finch eventually found winger Tucker Shields off a give-and-go. From the middle of the left circle, Shields beat Reganato with a low shot to regain the lead for the Flames nearing the halfway point of regulation.
It did not take long for Liberty to find the back of the net again. Off an offensive zone draw win by Essenmacher, Liberty winger Mason Smith let a quick shot go that snuck under Reganato’s arm to give the Flames a 3-1 advantage with 7:13 remaining in the middle frame.
From there, the Seawolves watched their deficit continue to grow. Just 1:11 after the Smith goal, Liberty added yet another tally to its lead. On a rush up the ice, Shields came flying over the blue line with speed before wristing a hard shot past Reganato to make it 4-1.
With the flood gates open, the Flames continued to bludgeon the Seawolves’ defense and goaltending in the second period. Off an offensive-zone cycle, Liberty winger Samuel Feamster laid a pass back to the point for Diem, who let a seeing-eye shot go that found the back of the net for his first American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I goal.
Diem’s marker chased Reganato from the crease after he allowed five goals on a whopping 38 shots through the game’s first 36-plus minutes of play. With Reganato on the bench, head coach Chris Garofalo turned to goaltender Michael Foglia for his collegiate debut, who did not fare much better.
With 10 ticks left on the clock in the second period, Stony Brook’s bad luck and poor play continued. Following a Seawolves penalty, Munroe took a shot off the rush that was partially blocked by Nakagawa, but deflected up and over Foglia for another power-play tally.
In the middle frame alone, Liberty outscored the Seawolves 5-0 while outshooting them 26-5.
Coming into the third period, Stony Brook continued to do itself no favors by taking back-to-back penalties, which both ended with Flames goals less than two minutes apart. The first of the two goals came off the stick of Adamek on a point shot from that eluded Foglia’s glove. Later on, Debrito connected with Munroe for a backdoor tap-in.
Although the contest was firmly out of reach at 8-1, the Seawolves made the score look slightly better on paper, thanks to a pair of goals by winger Kristian Malec 1:27 apart. Nonetheless, Stony Brook fell 8-3.
For the Seawolves, game two was a tough end to a nightmarish weekend. After Reganato was pulled, Foglia allowed three goals on 21 shots. Overall, the duo faced rubber 59 times, while Stony Brook challenged Kausch just 25 times.
Along with surrendering just under 20 shots per period, the real killer was Stony Brook’s penalty kill. Though the Seawolves’ power-play unit went 1-for-4, the team’s penalty kill allowed four goals on five tries.
In the offensive zone, Malec’s two goals led the way, while Poirier and Labos also found twine. Haskins, Nakagawa, defenseman Joey Trazzera and wingers Paul DeSaro and Anthony Vernillo all notched an assist each.
Following the disastrous weekend, the Seawolves will head to the Bradford R. Boss Boss Ice Arena in Kingston, R.I., where they will continue their six-game road trip against the No. 24 Rhode Island Rams during Halloween weekend. Fresh off a series split with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island will come into the two-game series with an 8-2 record and are 5-1-0 in Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association play. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. for the opener on Friday, Oct. 31, with the series finale set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1.
(Originally published at https://sbstatesman.com/139663/sports/stony-brook-hockey-manhandled-in-sweep-by-no-5-liberty/)
