It was a long, 3 game weekend for Delaware hockey. Friday night the team travelled to Hershey, PA to take on the Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchmen and took home a win, and on Saturday and Sunday, the team hosted the number 2 ranked, Stony Brook University Seawolves, but fell both games. On Sunday at the Fred Rust, it was Jr. Blue Hen day. A group of young, excited hockey players took the ice with the Blue Hens, and stood by for the National Anthem and high fives from the players. In between the first and second period, they played a 7 minute game before UD came back out.
Friday night, the puck dropped at 7:00 pm at the Lebanon Valley College Hershey Park Arena. Delaware came out strong, and played smart. They utilized every player in each lineup. There were a few penalties for both teams throughout the period. UD was successful on their penalty kills. With a minute and 45 seconds left in the period, John Redgate scored a power play goal off an assist from Alex Guerere and Max Freeman! Having 8 seconds left on the clock, Delaware put a man in box, so they would start the second period man down. The score of the first period was 1-0, UD.
With the second period underway, UD was in the lead, and planned on keeping it. For the first 10 minutes of the period, Delaware played very well. They made smart plays, and worked well together on the ice. A little less than 10 minutes left in the period, there was a 5 minute major penalty called on the Blue Hens. The team worked hard on that penalty kill to keep their lead. They played defensively, and were successful on the kill. There were 4 minutes and 42 seconds on the clock, and Max Freeman scored the second goal of the night off of an assist from Alex Guerere! The Dutchmen responded quickly, and scored a goal about a minute and a half later. At the end of the period, the score was 2-1, Delaware.
About 3 minutes into the third period, Corey Leskanic scored his first goal of the season, and third Blue Hen goal of the night, off of an assist by Alex Guerere! Throughout the period, UD continued their success on penalty kills. Both the offensive lines and defensive lines worked hard throughout the entirety of the game. With a minute left in the period, LVC pulled their goalie. The final score of the game was 3-1, Blue Hens!
Going into the weekend, Delaware was ranked 14 and LVC ranked 10 in the race for Nationals. I caught up with Vinny Zingarelli after the game. He said, “I think it was one of our best games of the year. We had contributions from everyone in the lineup, and couldn’t have asked for a better 60 minutes, especially because it’s a team that’s ranked ahead of us.”
The team was back home on Saturday for puck drop at 5:15 pm. Less than 5 minutes into the first period, the Seawolves scored the first goal of the night. Possession of the puck was continuously changing. Delaware played very defensively. With 2 minutes and 23 seconds on the clock, Stony Brook scored again. At the end of the first period, SBU led 2-0 and there were two Blue Hens and a Stony Brook player in their respective boxes.
With the second period underway, Delaware was successful on their penalty kill that was continued from the first period. With 7 minutes on the clock, Stony Brook scored their third goal of the night. There were more penalties called within the period. The second period ended with the score being 3-0 and shots on goal 12-7, Stony Brook. In the third period, Delaware tried to put themselves back in the game. There were still more penalties, but the Blue Hens continued their success on the penalty kills. The final score of the game was 3-0, Seawolves.
After the game, I spoke to Max Freeman and Cole Zucker. I asked Max his thoughts on the game, and he said, “We needed more of a sense of urgency. We didn’t capitalize on scoring chances. Tomorrow we need to be more disciplined.” Cole said going into Sunday’s game that the team was going to shoot more pucks and win more 1v1 battles, but he also added that, “Tonight there was a great performance by freshman goalie, Stephen East.”
Sunday was Jr. Blue Hen day at the Fred Rust, and it was great to see all the young hockey players on the ice and in the stands. At puck drop, Delaware came out strong and ready to put up a good fight. 13 seconds into the game, John Redgate scored the first goal of the night off of an assist from Pierce Lamberton and Nick Ustaski! Stony Brook was penalized a few times throughout the first period. The Blue Hens made smart passes, worked together as a unit, and made good plays in the Seawolves’ defensive zone. Just under 3 minutes left in the period, SBU scored to tie up the game. At the end of the period, the score was 1-1 and shots on goal were 5-3, UD.
With the second period underway, both teams came out trying to take the lead. Stony Brook scored their second goal of the night with 18 minutes and 16 seconds on the clock. The team worked hard to get themselves back on the board. 11 minutes and 27 seconds on the clock, defenseman, Mike Zidansek, scored an unassisted goal to tie up the game! A little more than a minute later, Dan Going scored another UD goal off of an assist from Vinny Zingarelli! The score was 3-2, Delaware, but the Seawolves responded quickly, with 9 minutes and 51 seconds on the clock, they tied up the game. The intensity was high on the ice, and there was so much energy coming from the crowd! The score at the end of the period was 3-3 and shots on goal were 8-6, Blue Hens.
Not even a minute after the third period puck drop, John Redgate put the puck in the net off of an assist from Pierce Lamberton and Leo Skehan! Over the next 6 minutes, Stony Brook scored two power play goals making the score 5-4. With 7 minutes on the clock, there was a Blue Hen in the box, but the team was successful on the penalty kill. With a little less than a minute and half left in the game, Delaware pulled goalie, Dylan Troiano, and called a timeout. Stony Brook scored their last goal of the night with a minute and 4 seconds on the clock. The final score of the game was 6-4, Seawolves.
The Blue Hens put up a great fight on Sunday afternoon, and played very well. I caught up with Andrew Corapi who shared his thoughts on the game with me. He said, “I think we played well. We didn’t win enough 50/50 battles. It was a tough loss to swallow. We had 3 games in 1 weekend, and that’s definitely a challenge, but we are excited for West Chester next weekend.”
The team is away on Friday night at West Chester University, and home on Saturday to take on the Rams at 5:15 for our UD Teacher and Faculty Appreciation Night. Keep up with the games this weekend through our Twitter page, @UDHockey. Captain, Leo Skehan said that the team is “going to come out and practice hard” to prepare for the weekend! We hope to see everyone come out to the game on Saturday!
Written By: Analisa Vizzoni
