Newark, Del. — After a 6-5 shootout loss to Loyola (Md.) on Friday, the University of Delaware Division 3 men’s hockey team (3-2-2) were once again overpowered from the start on Saturday night (Oct. 20), falling to Ramapo (5-1-0), 9-5, at Gold Arena. Once again, the Blue Hens were outmatched in net-front battles, as five of the Roadrunners’ goals came from directly in front of the Delaware cage after consistently swift entry into the attacking zone.
The Roadrunners controlled all three zones in the first period, limiting Delaware to three shots while manufacturing fast-break odd-man rushes to bounce out to a 2-0 lead. A five-hole wrist shot from Thomas Stapleton at 9:20 was followed by a shorthanded goal from Ramapo’s leading scorer Chris Dressler, who connected with a one-timer from the slot off a feed from Gary Ragusa on the left wing, at 11:22.
Ramapo asserted their dominance with an explosive second period, in which Robert Mulligan accounted for three of the Roadrunners’ six goals by way of his persistently looming net-front presence. Kyle DeBel, who assisted on Mulligan’s power-play goal at 17:48 to extend Ramapo’s lead to 8-3 over Delaware, also contributed a pair of goals himself and added a further assist in the third, when he connected with Keith Doherty to set up a backhand wraparound 9:59 in the final period.
For Delaware, Nick Scafidi accounted for a pair of second-period goals, while Anthony Carella earned his first as a Blue Hen with a put-back from a Ryan Bryson attempt.
With Delaware trailing 9-3 with 10 minutes to go, Justin Sierocinski relieved starting goalie Gabe Nadell. Thirty-one seconds later, simultaneous penalties against Ramapo’s Eric Frieman and Nicholas Routé led to a pair of rapid-fire power-play goals from the Blue Hens, with Steven Palomba and Chris Mayville both beating Ramapo netminder Sean Gordon to close the deficit to four.
Gordon (3-1-0) earned the win for Ramapo with a 23-save effort, while Nadell was tabbed with the loss after stopping 17 of 26 shots faced.
Delaware returns to action Friday (Oct. 26), when they host Salisbury at Gold Arena. Game time is listed at 8:15 p.m.
