Newark, Del. – Six members of the University of Delaware Division 2 men’s hockey team found the back of the net in the Blue Hens’ 8-0 victory over Navy on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 16) at Fred Rust Arena.
Jeremy DeWit followed up a two-goal effort in Friday’s 8-4 win over Millersville with a hat trick, while Stephen Odgers recorded a 14-save shutout in net.
“What a difference from Friday,” said Delaware coach Vince Falkowski. “They were flying around in the third just as much as they were in the first two periods.”
If anything, the Hens were slower into stride on Sunday, failing to score through the first 15 minutes before taking advantage of their first power-play opportunity of the game. With Sean Bowman out due to a high-sticking minor at 13:54, Shane Moran redirected an Alec Rankin shot from the right dot past Midshipmen goalie Mitch Stangel to open the scoring for the Hens at 15:10.
And then the floodgates opened in the second period.
Delaware, who accounted for 15 shots in the middle frame to Navy’s seven, reeled off four more goals, two coming from the third line in a span of 11 seconds.
Ryan Lowe finished an end-to-end tic-tac-toe from Andrew Marciniak and DeWit at 4:59 before DeWit himself fired a top-shelf laser from the left dot at 5:10. Larry Hooper then tallied his first goal as a Blue Hen at 11:08, connecting in the low slot from a Denver Lundstrom feed. With two minutes left in the period and Navy’s Jake DeCelles off for a holding minor, Ryan Morse potted the Hens’ second power-play goal directly off a faceoff, putting Delaware up 5-0 through two.
Delaware, more than doubling up the Midshipmen in terms of shots, held a slight 33-27 edge in the faceoff circle and maintained a strong presence in all three zones, even on the penalty kill.
DeWit’s second goal of the game came from Andrew Marciniak while shorthanded at the 2:22 mark of the third period, before Devin LeBlanc earned his first goal in a Blue Hens sweater six minutes later. DeWit finished his hat trick with 5:31 left in regulation, batting the rebound of a Lowe wrist shot past Stangel.
“Up and down the lineup, they played solid defence and played phenomenally today,” Falkowski continued. “Navy’s a decent team with some really good skaters; I think we weathered the storm in the first period and we really took off from there.”
In all, the Hens pelted Stangel with 33 shots while limiting Navy to 14. For Odgers, the shutout in net was the second of his tenure with the Blue Hens.
Delaware will next host The College of New Jersey on Friday (Sept. 21); game time is slated for 7:05 p.m. at Fred Rust Arena. Live coverage from Delaware Hockey Night Radio begins at 6:45 p.m.
Delaware 8, Navy 0
Sun., Sept. 16, 2018 – at Fred Rust Arena, Newark, Del.
Navy – 0 0 0 – 0
Delaware – 1 4 3 – 8
First Period: Delaware, Moran 1 (Rankin)(PP), 15:10. Penalties: Bowman, Navy (high-sticking), 13:54. Knox, UD (slashing), 17:58. Pluchino, Navy (tripping), 19:24.
Second Period: Delaware, Lowe 1 (DeWit, Marciniak), 4:59. Delaware, DeWit 3 (Lowe, Leather), 5:10. Delaware, Hooper 1 (Lundstrom, Ryan), 11:08. Delaware, Morse 3 (Demas D.)(PP), 18:00. Penalties: DeCelles, Navy (holding), 17:27.
Third Period: Delaware, DeWit 4 (Marciniak)(SH), 2:22. Delaware, LeBlanc 1 (Johnson, Moran), 8:32. Delaware, DeWit 5 (Morse, Leather), 14:29. Penalties: Morse, UD (tripping), :23, Ostrowski, Navy (boarding), 17:30.
Shots On Goal: Navy 14, Delaware 33.
Penalty Minutes: Navy 8, Delaware 4.
Power-play Opportunities: Navy 0 of 2, Delaware 2 of 4.
Goalies: Navy, Stangel 0-1-0 (33 shots, 25 saves). Delaware, Odgers 1-0-0 (14 shots, 14 saves).
Referees: Rich Jondo, Brett Wallen. Linesmen: John Poling, William Fannin.
