Newark, Del. — After battling from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at five goals apiece with 20 seconds left in regulation, the University of Delaware Division 3 men’s hockey team failed to capitalize on a major power play in overtime and fell to Loyola (Md.) in a shootout on Friday night (Oct. 19) at Fred Rust Arena.
After Delaware’s Braden Rishell was unsuccessful to start the fifth round of the shootout, Luke Hiltwein iced the win for the Greyhounds with a wrist shot from the left edge of the crease.
A slow start to the game left Delaware scoreless in the first period, but a strong attacking-zone presence from Loyola enabled them to take advantage of an early defensive breakdown from the Hens. Loyola’s Luke Cahill caught Delaware goalie Gabe Nadell out of position to scored a power-play goal at 10:33, closely followed by a Chris Affrunti goal not even a minute after. The Greyhounds added two more goals in a penalty-laden second period, with Craig Moore and Anthony Federico lifting Loyola to a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes.
Delaware bounced back with a big third period, ultimately erasing the Greyhounds’ lead. Michael Cerrone opened the scoring for the Blue Hens 49 seconds in, followed by goals from Steven Palomba, Shane Saladis and Chris Mayville. With Nadell pulled in favour of an extra attacker with just over a minute to go, Cerrone scored the game-tying goal with 20 seconds to go in regulation. Amid a pileup in front of the Loyola net, Cerrone jammed the puck across the goal line, and an altercation immediately following set up a five-minute power play for Delaware which stretched through much of overtime.
While Delaware held the puck in attacking zone for the majority of overtime, Loyola killed off the fighting major assessed to Kevin Hall before forcing the shootout.
The Blue Hens host Ramapo on Saturday evening (Oct. 20); game time at Gold Arena is listed at 8:30 p.m.
