The Hodgson-Caravel and Salesianum hockey teams were winners on the ice Friday night (March 2) at Fred Rust Arena in Newark, Del., but the big winners of the tenth annual Hockey for a Cause are those supported by the mission of the Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities.
Inside the glass, the Hodgson-Caravel Silver Bucs began the night with a come-from-behind 7-5 defeat of the DuPont-Conrad Tigers. An short-handed empty-net goal from Gavin Teresczuk with 1:05 to go finalised the win for the Silver Bucs after the lead changed hands five times throughout the well-contested affair.
The Tigers drew first blood 4:45 in when Nick Edwards connected off a Cole Ruggiero centring pass from directly in front of the net. Hodgson-Caravel responded with a pair of late first-period goals to take the lead, one from Teresczuk off the rebound of a Nick DeMarco chance at 10:03, and a Heath Widdoes mid-slot wrist shot at 11:07.
The Silver Bucs ceded the lead twice before pulling away in the end as both teams traded goals in pairs through the second period and the beginning of the third. Tigers leading score Steve Boyles led the charge for the losing side with a hat trick which culminated in a power-play goal to put DuPont-Conrad up 5-4 2:10 in the final period. The Silver Bucs, however, responded with three unanswered goals to cap their 11th victory of the season. Nick Sobocinski’s put-back off the rebound of his initial shot tied the game at 3:49 before a DeMarco snipe at the left dot gave the Bucs a lead they refused to relinquish with 3:09 remaining.
Following the Silver Bucs’ victory, the Salesianum hockey team acknowledged eight senior players before jumping to an early 3-0 lead over the St. Mark’s Spartans and not looking back en route to a 5-2 score.
Senior captain Fisher Sellers started the three-goal first period for Salesianum 7:09 in, directing a Cam Bergeman centring pass past Spartans goalie Billy Pierce. The next two Sallies goals came while shorthanded—Bergeman batted the puck from the left edge of the crease into the right corner at 9:15 before second-line winger Ethan Scharp stole the puck deep in St. Mark’s territory and connected from point-blank range 52 seconds later.
Both sides battled through a scoreless second period before trading power-play goals early in the third. Sellers scored his second goal of the game with a one-timer from the left dot 30 seconds in, only to be answered by a Will Ralsten punch-in past the left leg of Salesianum goalie Graham Burke at the 1:48 mark. A Colin Filliben net-front redirect restored the Sallies’ lead to four goals with 1:11 to go before St. Mark’s leading scorer Pat Swain accounted for the Spartans’ second goal of the night with a one-timer from inside the left dot in the final 14 seconds.
In all, Salesianum outshot St. Mark’s 44-21. Burke saved 19 St. Mark’s shots, while Pierce shared duties in net with Giovanni Casagrande in defeat.
