ANNAPOLIS, MD (Saturday, February 9, 2008) – Towson goaltender Darren DeLullo made 40 saves, including 19 in the third period, to lead the Tigers’ ice hockey team to the championship of the 31^st annual Crabpot Tournament with a 4-1 victory over host Navy Saturday night at the McMullen Hockey Arena.

For his play in Saturday night’s championship game, as well as his 32-save effort in Towson’s win over the University of Maryland on Friday, DeLullo (Millersville, MD) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.

The Tigers (now 12-13-1) jumped out to an early lead in the game’s first five minutes and the Midshipmen were never able to recover.  Sophomore Jon Scharff put Towson ahead 1-0 with an even strength goal at 3:10, and freshman Andrew Higgins (Centreville, MD) gave the white, black, and gold clad visitors a 2-0 lead with a power play tally at 4:18.

Navy (now 14-17-1) cut the deficit in half early in the second period when junior Matt Swezey knocked in the rebound of a shot by senior Donnie Horner at the 2:58 mark.  Swezey also registered a goal and three assists in the Mids’ 8-3 win over UMBC Friday night.

But the Tigers put the game out of reach before the second stanza concluded on the strength of a pair of power play goals from junior Robert Plant (Annapolis, MD).  Plant’s first tally at 12:58 put Towson up, 3-1, and his second goal came with just 10 seconds remaining in the period.  As a result of those two tallies and an assist on Scharff’s goal, Plant was named the championship game’s Most Valuable Player.

Navy sophomore goaltender Eric Anderson stopped 31 of the 35 Towson shots he faced, while his counterpart DeLullo recorded 40 saves on 41 Navy shots.

The Mids are idle until this Friday (February 15) when they play in the opening round of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) tournament at the McMullen Hockey Arena in Annapolis.  Navy is set to face Scranton Friday at 7:30 p.m.  If the Mids are victorious, they will meet Penn State on Saturday (February 16) at 6 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

Towson           2          2          0          -           4
NAVY             0          1          0          -           1

First Period
T – Scharff (Valvano, Plant) 3:10
T – Higgins (Wetzel, Schlagenhauf) 4:18 (pp)

Second Period
N – Swezey 19 (Horner) 2:58
T – Plant (Valvano) 12:58 (pp)
T – Plant (Caruso) 19:50 (pp)

Third Period
None

 

SAVES
DeLullo (Towson)        16        5          19        -           40
Anderson (NAVY)        7         16        8          -           31

SHOTS
Towson                        9          18        8          -           35
NAVY                         16         6          19        -           41