BETHLEHEM, PA (Sunday, October 1, 2006) -- Junior Nick Schwob recorded a three-goal hat trick, giving him five goals in just two games, to lead Navy's ice hockey team to an 8-3 triumph over Lehigh Sunday afternoon in Bethlehem, PA. With the victory, the Midshipmen improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA). It was Lehigh's first game of the new season; the Mountain Hawks' scheduled opener at Towson Friday night was postponed due to continuing ice problems at Baltimore's Mount Pleasant Ice Rink. Junior Derek Johnson also had a pair of tallies for Navy, freshman Nick Hinkley got his first goal as a Midshipman, and freshman goaltender Eric Anderson made 15 saves in his first start for the blue-and-gold. For that effort, and for successfully stopping a 3-on-0 Lehigh breakaway, Anderson was awarded the game puck by Navy's coaching staff. Sophomore defenseman Matt Gross got the Mids on the board first Sunday with a goal at 5:10 of the first period, and Schwob then put Navy up 3-0 with a pair of tallies at 6:05 and 13:26. Schwob's second goal came while the Mids were on a power play. Lehigh trimmed the Navy lead to 3-1 with a quick power play tally just 18 seconds into the second stanza, but Schwob completed his hat trick with a power play goal of his own at 7:23 to put the Mids ahead 4-1 after two periods. Hinkley scored the first goal of his USNA career at the 1:27 mark of the third period to put the Mids comfortably in front 5-1, but the Hawks then scored a pair during a two-and-a-half minute span to pull the home team within 5-3 with nearly 15 minutes remaining in the contest. Navy then put the game out of reach with three unanswered goals, the first from sophomore Charlie Daniel at 13:17, followed by a pair of tallies from Johnson within 33 seconds of each other, at 19:00 and 19:33. It was Daniel's third goal of the season, having scored a pair in Navy's 8-6 win over Maryland Saturday night. Anderson finished with 15 saves for Navy, seven of those coming in the third period, while his Hawk counterpart Mitch DePace recorded 32 saves, as the Mids outshot Lehigh, 40-18. The Mids were whistled for 10 minor penalties totaling 20 minutes, while the Hawks had 14 minor infractions for 28 minutes. Navy was 2-for-14 on its power play and Lehigh was 2-for-10. The Midshipmen are idle until next weekend, when they face Rutgers Saturday night (9:15 p.m.) in New Jersey and then square off against Scranton Sunday afternoon (1:30 p.m.) in a game that will be played at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY. SCORING SUMMARY First Period N - Gross 1 (Alspach) 5:10 N - Schwob 3 (Liles) 6:05 N - Schwob 4 (Hinkley, Liles) 13:26 Second Period L - Shurts (Bemaiche) 0:18 N - Schwob 5 (Westerman, Sandroni) 7:23 Third Period N - Hinkley 1 (Krmpotich) 1:27 L - Torcivia (Pittman) 2:58 L - Pittman (unassisted) 5:14 N - Daniel 3 (Gross) 13:17 N - Johnson 1 (Gross) 19:00 N - Johnson 2 (Daniel, Stoner) 19:33 SAVES Anderson (Navy) 4 - 4 - 7 -- 15 DePace (Lehigh) 7 - 15 - 10 -- 32 SHOTS Navy 10 - 16 - 17 -- 40 Lehigh 4 - 5 - 9 -- 18