ANNAPOLIS, MD (Friday, February 15, 2008) – Junior John Patrick Culliton rang up a three-goal hat trick and classmate Matt Swezey added a pair to propel Navy’s ice hockey team to an 8-1 win over Scranton Friday night in the opening round of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) playoffs at the McMullen Hockey Arena.
The fourth-seeded Midshipmen will now meet top seeded Penn State Saturday at 6 p.m. Earlier in the day, second seeded Delaware will face third seeded Rhode Island at 3 p.m. Both games will be played at McMullen Arena.
The winners of the two Saturday games will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. at McMullen for the first ever ESCHL championship.
Navy (now 16-17-1) grabbed a 4-0 first period lead and were never seriously threatened over the game’s final 40 minutes. Culliton sent the hats flying onto the McMullen Arena ice with his third tally at 7:55 of the third period, which was his seventh goal of the season.
Swezey scored late in the first period and early in the third for his team leading 22nd and 23rd goals this season.
Scranton’s lone tally came with just 3:09 remaining in regulation time.
Navy sophomore goaltender Eric Anderson stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced, while Scranton’s Justin Lucas recorded 34 saves on 42 Midshipmen shots on goal.
Four of Navy’s eight goals came on the power play, as referee Tim Foreman called 22 total penalties -- 12 against the Mids and 10 against the visiting Ice Royals.
SCORING
SUMMARY
Scranton 0 0 1 - 1
NAVY 4 1 3 - 8
First Period
N –
Culliton 5 (Heitman, Anliker) 7:42 (pp)
N – Shields 4 (Swezey, Schwob) 12:39 (pp)
N – Culliton 6 (Anliker, Martin) 17:10
N – Swezey 22 (Daniel) 18:12
Second Period
N – Anliker
8 (Horner) 1:22
Third Period
N – Swezey
23 (unassisted) 4:01
N – Culliton 7 (Heitman, Anliker) 7:55 (pp)
S – Kleinschmidt (Torstrup, Pace) 16:51
N – Daniel 6 (Heitman) 19:00 (pp)
SHOTS
Scranton 10 15 12 - 37
NAVY 16 16 10 - 42
SAVES
Lucas
(Scranton) 12 15 7 - 34
Anderson (Navy) 10 15 11 - 36