The University of Delaware D1 Men’s Team were back on the ice Friday night for their first game of the season facing the West Chester University Rams. With 22 returning players and 10 rookies, the boys were ready to get the season rolling again at the Gold Rust Arena in Newark, Delaware. The boys were off to a good start, moving through the first period with a 2-1 lead.The first goals by Delaware, coming in at 2:07 minutes by forward #13 Chris Mazzella with assists from forward #39 Pierce Lamberton and defense player #11 Tommy Cascone followed by another Mazzella goal with help from #22 Michael Nisky and #37 Jack Zimmer. The lead was cut by a goal from West Chester, ending the first period. The score was tied in the second period by another goal from the Rams, making the score 2-2 within 7 minutes of the second period. The boys were playing hard trying to pull ahead but kept ending up in the penalty box, unable to regain the advantage. West Chester scored another goal at the end of the second period, producing a 3-2 lead for the Rams going into the third.
Within the first minute of the third, another West Chester goal made it into the Blue Hens net throwing the Blue Hen’s at a 4-2 disadvantage. A promising goal by #16 Kevin Felice with assists from #22 Michael Nisky and #13 Chris Mazzella brought the team back up to 4-3 against the Rams, but the team couldn’t come back from the disadvantage in time.
Next week, the Blue Hens will face the Penn State Berks on Friday, September 28th in Reading, PA.  When asked how the team planned on preparing for next week’s game, #19 Jakob DeFares stated, “I think we will prepare similarly to how we prepared for this game. We had a good week in practice and we felt good going into the weekend, we just beat ourselves by taking too many penalties. The result of the game was not what we expected but I believe we still played strongly.”
“I think our competition level was there, but our main problem was staying out of the box. We took way too many penalties throughout the game and it ruined the whole flow on the bench. Three of their goals ended up coming off of the power-play.”  – #12 Colin Emerich
Come join the team at their official home opener in the Fred Rust Ice Arena on Friday, October 5 for a 7pm puck drop. The Blue Hens will be up against the Liberty University Flames. Follow us on social media to keep up with the team!
Twitter: @udhockey
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Facebook: University of Delaware Men’s Division 1 Ice Hockey
Written by: Daniella Fioretti
