LAUREL, MD (Saturday, January 26, 2008) – Sophomore defenseman Patrick Heitman had a breakout game offensively, scoring three times and assisting on another to pace Navy’s ice hockey team to an 8-5 victory over the University of Maryland Saturday afternoon at Gardens Ice House.

 

Navy improved its overall season record to 10-17 with the non-league victory, while the Terrapins record fell to 6-14-3.  Maryland had lost Friday night to Penn State-Berks, 3-2 while the Mids were defeating West Chester, 5-4.

 

Uncharacteristically, the Mids jumped on top early Saturday afternoon, getting a goal from senior Nick Schwob at 1:09 to grab a 1-0 lead.  Maryland tied the game a short time later, with a power play goal off the stick of J.D. Ziegenbein at 10:57.

 

Junior Matt Swezey continued his hot scoring streak a short time later, connecting at 13:14 to give Navy a 2-1 lead.  Heitman then scored his first of the day at 15:21 to put the Mids ahead 3-1, but the Terps’ Ziegenbein tallied again at 17:01 to close the gap to 3-2 after the first period.

 

Maryland knotted the contest at 3-3 with a shorthanded goal from Jon Marks at 5:08, but that’s when Heitman and the Mids took over.  The St. Louis, Missouri native picked up the second and third goals of his USNA career at 6:43 and 11:33 of the second stanza to give Navy a 5-3 advantage, and classmate Chandler Brewer found the back of the net at 17:39 to put the Midshipmen on top 6-3 after two periods.

 

Schwob scored his second goal of the game just 1:30 into the third period to put Navy in front by four, 7-3, but the Terrapins tallied twice within a five-minute span -- at 2:38 and shorthanded at 7:24 -- to make it interesting at 7-5.

 

But the Mids gave their faithful following reason to head home happy when Schwob got Navy’s second hat trick of the game, scoring on the power play with only 32 seconds remaining on the clock to make the final score 8-5.

 

Sophomore Navy netminder Jeremey Estevez got the start and finished with 25 saves on 30 Maryland shots.  Two Terrapins split the goaltending duties, with sophomore Bryan Barr recording 20 saves in 31½ minutes, and Chris Rij collecting 21 saves in the game’s final 28½ minutes.  Navy outshot Maryland by a 49-30 margin.

 

Navy will be in action three times next weekend, visiting Drexel Friday at 5:45 at the class of ’23 Rink in Philadelphia, then hosting those same Dragons Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at McMullen Hockey Arena.  The Mids then host George Mason on Super Bowl Sunday, also at McMullen, at 5 p.m.

 

 

SCORING SUMMARY

NAVY                         3          3          2          -           8

Maryland                      2          1          2          -           5

 

First Period

N – Schwob (Westerman, Heitman) 1:09

M – Ziegenbein (unassisted) 10:57

N – Swezey (Daniel, Gross) 13:14

N – Heitman (Culliton) 15:21

M – Ziegenbein (Sams, Shor) 17:01

 

Second Period

M – Marks (Costello) 5:08 (sh)

N – Heitman (Anliker) 6:43

N – Heitman (Culliton) 11:33

N – Brewer (Daniel) 17:39

 

Third Period

N – Schwob (Stoner) 1:30

M – Drazen (unassisted) 2:38

M – Quinn (Sams) 7:24 (sh)

N – Schwob (Swezey) 19:28 (pp)

 

SAVES

Estevez (NAVY)          8          7          10       -           25

Barr (Maryland)           15        5          x          -           20

Rij (Maryland)              x          9          12        -           21

 

SHOTS

NAVY                         18        17        14        -           49

Maryland                      10        8          12        -           30