Newark, Del. — The University of Delaware Division 3 men’s hockey team (5-4-1) unleashed an unrelenting attack on St. Thomas Aquinas College on Friday night (Oct. 25), posting a commanding 9-2 win over the Spartans at Gold Arena.
Eight Blue Hen skaters scored goals, led by bookend tallies from second leading scorer Brandon LaSpina. Ryan D’Emilia and Denver Lundstrom joined LaSpina with first-period goals to give the Hens a 3-1 intermission lead, only for that advantage to widen in the second. Following goals from Joe Weindling and Austin Wetzel, Delaware forward Jack Mastronardi finished a two-on-one attack with a net-front punch-in of a LaSpina set-up to give the Blue Hens a 6-1 advantage in the final 2:23 of the second period.
Luke Rich opened the third-period slate for Delaware at 6:47, followed by a power-play goal from Steven Palomba at 12:47, just 20 seconds after the game’s lone penalty — a slashing minor assessed to Aquinas’ Andrew Rafferty. LaSpina potted his second of the game and 10th of the season with 2:56 remaining, connecting on a centring pass from Jack Mastronardi to ice Delaware’s 9-2 victory just two minutes after Drew Lorenz joined Patrick Burns as the Spartans’ goal-scoring tandem.
Danny Miller backstopped the Blue Hens to victory with 44 saves on 46 shots faced.
The Delaware Division 3 side returns to action in two weeks, travelling to New Jersey to take on Rowan on Nov. 9 and Stockton on Nov. 10.
