Newark, Del. — After maintaining the upper hand through a back-and-forth second period, the University of Delaware Division 2 men’s hockey team (7-2-0) slipped late on Friday night (Oct. 18), giving up five unanswered goals to Rowan (6-0-0) in a 9-6 loss at Fred Rust Arena, their lone game of the weekend.
Chris and Ryan Conlin — linemates and brothers – combined to have a hand in eight of the Profs’ nine goals, with Chris’ third and fourth goals serving as bookends of Rowan’s 5-0 late run which began in the final 14 seconds of the second period.
Down 6-4 late in the second, Rowan capitalized on an abbreviated 38-second power play to shift momentum in their favour. Chris Conlin’s redirect of a Ryan Conlin shot from the left point not only sealed a hat trick, but brought the Profs to within one at the intermission. At the 4:50 mark of the third period, Chris assisted Ryan on the game-tying goal with a mid-slot centring pass.
A high-sticking penalty assessed to CJ Castorina with 13:41 left gave Delaware ample opportunity to regroup, but the Profs remained relentless and ground away. With 19 seconds left on the penalty, Rowan defenceman Sam Ahern stole the puck at his own blue line, beat Delaware blueliner Adrian Rodriguez on an end-to-end one-on-one, and fired the game winning goal over the shoulder of Stephen Odgers with 12 minutes to go. After Delaware successfully killed off simultaneous hooking and slashing penalties assessed to Trevor Earley and Cal Raymore in the middle of the period, Bobby Penrod padded the Profs’ lead — now 8-6 — with a rebound put-back of his own shot with 4:55 to go. Chris Conlin drove the final nail with his fourth goal of the game — an empty-net goal from the neutral zone off a Trevor Rucci headman pass — with 1:08 left.
Six Delaware skaters scored goals: Ryan Lowe, Dylan Pasley, Kyle Sapia, Shane Moran, Eddie Martorella and Devin LeBlanc. Moran accounted for two assists as well, while sophomore Larry Hooper assisted on three Blue Hens goals.
Behind Chris Conlin’s four tallies for Rowan, Penrod scored two, and Ryan Conlin, Ahern and Luc Froio scored one apiece. Kyle Rink backstopped the Profs to victory with 38 saves, while Stephen Odgers (6-2-0) rejected 39 Rowan shots in defeat for Delaware.
Delaware returns to action next Friday (Oct. 25), travelling to The Gardens Ice House in Laurel, Md., to take on Maryland in a Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey South Division matchup.
