Pitera John (31) watches a shot go wide of the net
Ben Caplan | The Montclarion
Prior to the Thanksgiving break, the Montclair State University men’s club ice hockey team dropped two games against Sacred Heart University and University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS).
The Red Hawks first played Sacred Heart University on Friday, Nov. 17 at Floyd Hall Arena. Jonathan Randazzo of Sacred Heart opened up the scoring halfway into the first period. Shooting one past Montclair State’s Bradley Odgers, Scared Heart went into the first intermission up 1-0.
The second period featured no offense from the Red Hawks once again. Michael Buckel was called for a hooking minor penalty almost five minutes into the second period and Sacred Heart capitalized on the mistake. Rocco Coviello of Sacred Heart scored the power play goal to put them up 2-0. Eleven seconds later, Coviello again slung the puck past Odgers to take the 3-0 advantage.
Pitera John (31) slings the puck passed a University of Massachusetts, Amhearst, player and clears it from the zone.
Ben Caplan | The Montclarion
The third period finally saw Montclair State on the board. Lucas Prospero notched his third goal of the season at the 3:26 mark after the second intermission. At this point in the game, the Red Hawks had the comeback mentality. Down by two goals with the majority of the third period left was enough time to close the gap and at least put this game into overtime.
Coviello thought otherwise, as he registered his third goal of the game at the 4:47 mark into the third period and capped Sacred Heart’s scoring for the game. Coviello’s hat trick proved to be the killing blow to Montclair State, but the action didn’t stop there.
Fighting broke out halfway during the third period after Montclair State’s Daniel Diner was penalized for cross checking a Sacred Heart player. Eight players, four from each team, received ten-minute fighting majors and were disqualified from the game. Red Hawks players Diner, Odgers, Buckel and Justin Ritter were all thrown out of the game.
The Red Hawks did end up scoring one more goal from their captain Samuel Enright. Enright shot a power play goal in the back of the net to bring the score to 4-2. The game would end with that score.
Branden Vander Vliet (6) and Kevin Brown (17) attack a University of Massachusetts, Amhearst player for the puck
Ben Caplan | The Montclarion
The Red Hawks played the next day in Floyd Hall on Saturday, Nov. 18, against UMASS. While not as physical as the game against Sacred Heart, this one was more of a nail-biter. The first period had goals for each team. UMASS scored first, a goal from Jude Bonavita, which was then answered by Montclair State’s Enright. Both goals were unassisted, and the first period closed with a tied score of 1-1.
The second period was similar to the first. Patrick Duffy scored for UMASS and Enright fired another unassisted goal, this time on the power play, past UMASS goalie Connor Walker. The period closed at 2-2.
The third period was more equally matched for the most part. Each team played great defense as the puck volleyed from each side of the ice until late in the period. UMASS player Cameron Fisher scored the game winning goal with less than three minutes left in regulation to win 3-2.
Montclair State men’s hockey, now 4-10 on the season, will hit the road for their next three games. They once again play Sacred Heart University this Saturday, Dec. 2. Next weekend on Friday, Dec. 8 and Saturday, Dec. 9, they will face off against the University of New Hampshire and Marist College to close out the semester.
Red Hawks captain Samuel Enright (28) goes one-on-one with the University of Massachusetts, Amhearst, goalie
Ben Caplan | The Montclarion
