MORGANTOWN, WV (Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006) -- Navy’s ice hockey team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, then held on to defeat stubborn West Virginia, 4-3, in an Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association (ECHA) game Saturday night at the Morgantown Municipal Ice Rink. Senior Kevin Krmpotich paced the Midshipmen with one goal and two assists. With the win, Navy improved its win-loss-overtime loss record 7-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the ECHA. Meantime, with their loss, the Mountaineers fell to 3-3-0 in the ECHA. The Mids got on the scoreboard just 3:13 in the contest when sophomore Jeff Martin picked up a rebound of a Krmpotich shot, and slipped the puck under WVU netminder Rastislav Kret while Navy was on a power play, to put the Mids up, 1-0. Navy extended its lead to 2-0 while killing a penalty when the puck bounced off the leg of a Mountaineer defenseman and into the net at the 14:54 mark. Sophomore Nolan Anliker was credited with the goal, while senior Patrick Sullivan picked up an assist. It was Sullivan’s 100th career point in his USNA career. Less than a minute later, at 15:33, the Midshipmen went up 3-0 when Krmpotich fired the puck past Kret, the assists going to senior defensemen Joe Liles and Jim Doherty. In the second stanza, Navy grabbed a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 advantage when sophomore Charlie Daniel scored an even strength goal at 4:07, assisted by Krmpotich and junior Andrew Stoner. WVU got its first goal late in the second period while on a power play, pulling the Mountaineers to within 4-1 after 40 minutes. In the period, referee Chris Cogan whistled Navy for a total of 21 minutes in penalties, resulting in several 5-on-3 power plays for WVU. The Mountaineers tallied twice with an extra man late in the period, the first at 17:07 and the second coming at 19:05. Ahead 4-3, the Mids killed off the final 55 seconds to earn the win, the team’s third straight. Navy netminder Eric Anderson finished the game with 33 saves, while his counterpart Kret recorded 23 saves, as the Mids outshot WVU, 36-27. The Midshipmen are in action again Sunday afternoon when they face Washington & Jefferson at 2:50 p.m. at the ICOPLEX facility in Southpointe, PA.