By Jim Guiberson and Ray Feldmann

 

SCRANTON, PA (Saturday, January 12, 2008) – Navy’s ice hockey team scored eight consecutive, unanswered goals over the final two periods to rally from an early five-goal deficit and defeat Scranton, 9-8, Saturday night at the Ice Box Sports Complex in Scranton, PA.

 

With the amazing, come-from-behind win, the Midshipmen improved to 8-14-0 overall and 3-12-0 in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL).  Scranton’s Ice Royals, meantime, saw their record fall to 5-11-2 overall and 3-10-0 in the league.

 

The same two teams will meet tomorrow (Sunday) at 4:30 p.m., again at the Ice Box Sports Complex in Scranton.

 

The Ice Royals jumped all over the Mids early, taking a 5-0 lead during the game’s first 12 minutes: A power play goal from senior forward Harry Lawall at 3:43, an even strength goal from junior forward Mike Pace 17 seconds later, a power play tally off the stick of Ryan Kleinschmidt at 7:58, an even strength goal from senior forward Steven Kelly 55 seconds later at 8:53, and a third power play goal from sophomore forward Jerry Malanga at 11:42.

 

In addition to quickly falling behind 5-0, Navy was assessed numerous minor penalties and four major disqualification (DQ) infractions: Matt Gross (head butting), along with Brian Gleason, Patrick Heitman, and Eric Bowen (all for fighting).

 

Scranton also lost three players to DQ’s for fighting.  Those six players -- three for Navy and three for Scranton -- will not be permitted to play in tomorrow’s game.

 

The Midshipmen finally got on the scoreboard a short time later, getting a power play goal from junior forward (and converted defenseman) Matt Swezey at 13:05, with assists going to linemates Alex Wallis and Charlie Daniel.

 

But Scranton regained its five-goal lead before the period ended, getting an even strength tally from Matt Torstrup at 18:48 to give the Ice Royals a 6-1 lead.

 

Sometime during the intermission between the first and second periods, Navy experienced an “attitude adjustment” and came out onto the ice a vastly different, far more disciplined hockey team.

 

The Midshipmen trimmed the deficit to 6-2 midway through the second stanza, picking up an unassisted, even strength goal from junior forward Jeff Martin at 8:47.

 

The Mids cut deeper into Scranton’s lead before the middle period ended, picking up three goals in just over four minutes to pull within 6-5: An even strength tally from senior Donnie Horner at 15:20, followed just 50 seconds later by sophomore Chandler Brewer’s first goal as a Midshipman, capped by Swezey’s second power play tally of the game at 19:31.

 

The Navy onslaught continued in the third period, beginning with Swezey’s third power play goal of the night – giving him the hat trick – just 57 seconds after the opening third period face-off, tying the score 6-6.

 

Daniel gave the Mids their first lead of the night, 7-6, less than a minute later, converting a power play tally at the 1:52 mark.  Junior Matt Keller put Navy up by two with an even strength goal at 3:54, and senior Schwob joined the scoring parade less than four minutes later with his first goal of the night (to go with three assists) at 7:35.

 

Remarkably, the Midshipmen had turned a 6-1 deficit into a 9-6 advantage in less than 20 minutes of play.

 

But Scranton wasn’t done.  The Ice Royals got a Kleinschmidt power play goal at 15:19 to cut the Navy lead to 9-7, but Navy clamped down and refused to allow Scranton to get any closer when it mattered.  The Ice Royals tallied one final time with less than one second remaining in the period to account for the final score of 9-8.

 

Sophomore Navy goaltender Eric Anderson finished with 24 saves on 32 Scranton shots.  The Ice Royals alternated two netminders: freshman Joe Cuozzo recorded four saves on eight Navy shots, while fellow freshman Justin Lucas registered 24 saves on 29 Navy shots on goal.

 

Saturday night’s game was eerily reminiscent of the Mids’ 6-5 win over Scranton two years ago, on January 29, 2006.  In that contest also played at the Ice Box Sports Complex, Navy trailed 5-1 after two periods and rallied with five unanswered third period goals -- the last coming from Schwob at 19:25 -- to enable the Mids to escape with the victory.

 

Navy is now idle until next weekend when the Midshipmen travel to State College, PA for a pair of contests with Penn State: Friday night at 9 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.  The Nittany Lions are currently the #2 ranked team nationally, according to the latest American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) poll, trailing only unbeaten and untied Illinois.

 

 

SCORING SUMMARY

 

NAVY             1          4          4          -           9

Scranton           6          0          2          -           8

 

First Period

S- Lawall (unassisted) 3:43 (pp)

S – Pace (D’Alessio) 4:00

S – Kleinschmidt (D’Alessio) 7:58 (pp)

S – Kelly (Furtak) 8:53

S – Malanga (Lawall, Malone) 11:42 (pp)

N – Swezey (Wallis, Daniel) 13:05 (pp)

S – Torstrup (Kleinschmidt) 18:48

 

Second Period

N – Martin (unassisted) 8:47

N – Horner (Shields, Swezey) 15:20

N – Brewer (Daniel, Schwob) 16:10

N – Swezey (Horner, Schwob) 19:31 (pp)

 

Third Period

N – Swezey (Schwob) 0:57 (pp)

N – Daniel (unassisted) 1:52 (pp)

N – Keller (Horner, Swezey) 3:54

N – Schwob (unassisted) 7:35 (pp)

S – Kleinschmidt (Malanga, Kocienda) 15:19 (pp)

S – Torstrup (unassisted) 19:59

 

 

SAVES

Anderson (NAVY)       9          8          7          -           24

Cuozzo (Scranton)        0          0          4          -           4

Lucas (Scranton)          7          17        0          -           24

 

SHOTS

NAVY                         8          21        8          -           37

Scranton                       15        8          9          -           32