ODENTON, MD (Saturday, January 6, 2007) – West Virginia exploded for five
unanswered third period goals, including three within 44 seconds, and went
on to defeat Navy’s ice hockey team, 5-2, in an Eastern Collegiate Hockey
Association (ECHA) contest Saturday night at the Piney Orchard Ice Rink.
With the loss, the Midshipmen fell to 10-6-1 overall and 7-3-0-1 in the
ECHA. West Virginia’s Mountaineers improved to 19-9-0-0 overall and 8-3-0-0
in the league.
Navy grabbed a 1-0 advantage with a first period power play goal from senior
Jay Alspach at 15:45, the lone assist going to classmate Joe Liles.
The Mids doubled their lead to 2-0 late in the second period with an even
strength goal off the stick of sophomore Jeff Martin at the 17:54 mark,
assisted by Liles and junior Brian Gleason.
Entering the third period with a seemingly safe 2-0 lead, Navy nearly made
it through 10 minutes before the wheels came off the cart.
West Virginia’s Mato Kret got the Mountaineers on the scoreboard at 9:45,
which opened the floodgates for the blue-and-yellow clad visitors. J.L.
Feeley tallied just seven seconds later at 9:52, which was quickly followed
by a Tom Mahalchick goal at 10:29.
The Mountaineers stretched their lead to 4-2 on Feeley’s second goal of the
night, on the power play at 14:28, then closed out the scoring with a
shorthanded tally at 18:49 when Tony Attanucci stripped Navy’s Kevin
Krmpotich of the puck and slid it into the empty net shortly after the Mids
had pulled goaltender Eric Anderson for an extra attacker.
Anderson, who carried a shutout deep into the third period, finished the
night with 36 saves. Anderson made several spectacular saves in the game's
first 40 minutes to preserve Navy’s 2-0 lead even though the Mids were
outshot in the first two periods by a 27-16 margin.
West Virginia netminder Rastislav Kret recorded 21 total saves, as the
Mountaineers outshot the Mids for the night, 41-23.
Referee Scott Pomento called a total of 20 penalties in the game, 13 of them
against Navy. WVU was 1-for-11 on the power play, while Navy was 1-for-5.
The Midshipmen are in action again next weekend with a trio of games: Friday
(Jan. 12) against the University of Pittsburgh at Piney Orchard at 8 p.m.,
Saturday (Jan. 13) against ECHA rival Drexel at Piney Orchard at 8 p.m., and
Sunday (Jan. 14) against Arizona State University at the Tucker Road Ice
Rink in Fort Washington, MD at noon.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
N – Alspach (Liles) 15:45
SECOND PERIOD
N – Martin (Gleason, Liles) 17:54
THIRD PERIOD
WV – Kret (unassisted) 9:45
WV – Feeley (Holabaugh, Mahalchick) 9:52
WV – Mahalchick (Haas) 10:29
WV – Feeley (Anderson) 14:28
WV – Attanucci (unassisted) 18:49 (en)
SAVES
Kret (WVU) 9 5 7 - 21
Anderson (Navy) 14 13 10 - 37
SHOTS
WVU 14 13 14 - 41
Navy 10 6 7 - 23