Weekend Preview
By: Kerri Mottola
We’re looking forward to another exciting weekend of Blue Hen Hockey! The team hosts Navy at 7 PM on Friday at the Fred Rust Arena. They travel to U.S. Naval Academy to play at 7:30 PM on Saturday.
The Hens split last weekend against RMU PA. They were victorious on Friday with a 6-2 sweep, showing a lot of promise for the upcoming season. After a hard battle on Saturday, the Hens lost in a shootout. They were down by 2 in the first period, but came back with a shorthanded goal with only two minutes left. After consistent back-and-forth, Ian Anderson tied the game at 3 shortly after the start of the second, but RMU responded with 2 goals, making it 5-3 Colonials going into the third. We were tied at 5 at the end of regulation, after third period goals from defensemen Justin Hoch and Mike Zidansek. Overtime was scoreless, but RMU came out on top after the fourth round of the shootout.
Overall, it was an impressive opening weekend and we’re looking forward to seeing this team take on Navy. This weekend, we’re hoping the team continues to create opportunity in front of the net. It’s exciting to see a lot of scoring from the Hens, as they struggled to produce on offense last season. Players to watch this weekend include goaltenders Dylan Troiano-who was a key component to the win on Friday- and Patrick Rochefort, who kept the Hens in the game on Saturday. We are also hoping to see a continuation of scoring from defense, as we saw goals from Nick Ustaski, Mike Zidansek, Justin Hoch, and Ian Anderson last weekend. The offense was strong last weekend, and we’re hoping they keep it up throughout the season. As a team, we’re looking to see another fast and physical couple of games, with continuous forward momentum and possession from the Hens, as well as consistent strength on both the powerplay and the penalty kill.
This will be Navy’s first away game this season. They split last weekend with Rutgers, with a 4-2 win on Friday night, and a 3-1 loss on Saturday. Both the Hens and Navy will be looking to bounce back from tough losses, so it’s sure to be an exciting weekend!
This weekend’s schedule:
7 PM: Fred Rust Arena, Paws for a Cause Night!
7:30 PM: US Naval Academy John McMullen Hockey Arena
