by Brian O’Neill
Central’s club hockey team opened up their 2014-15 season with a two game home stand over the weekend, playing Eastern Connecticut and Westfield State. The Blue Devils won both games, starting their season with a 2-0-0 record.
The first game of the weekend against the Eastern Connecticut Warriors was an offensive showcase. The scoring started early, with Central’s Pat Dowd finding the twine three minutes into the game, with the first and second assists going to Kyle Leyerzapf and Max Maffucci. The second goal of the period came with three minutes left, when Jack Johnson’s shot rebounded to Arron August, who gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
While Central had posted a shutout throughout one period, it wasn’t long until Eastern broke onto the scoreboard.
Just over 30 seconds into the second period, Eastern’s Jeremy Proto scored off an assist from Joey Harvey to bring the Warriors within one. Two minutes later Central answered when Leyerzapf’s shot beat Eastern’s goalie, on a pass from Adam Mink, to put the score at 3-1.
With 13:52 left in the period, the Warriors scored their second goal, coming from J.R Paretti with the assist going to Angus Deane, making it a 3-2 game. It only stayed that way for about seven minutes.
With 7:22 left August scored his second of the game, with the first and second assists going to Matt Lis and Maffucci. The last goal of the period came with 5:13 left, from Eastern’s Chris Paquette, taking advantage of a power play opportunity. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the second period, five total goals had been scored, and Central led 4-3.
The third period saw both teams taking penalties and alternating between having the man advantage to having the man in the box. Five minutes into the period a scrum broke out near the Eastern goal, with Blue Devil forward Ross Burton and Eastern’s Connor Walsh in the middle of the commotion.
Walsh was given a two-minute minor for roughing, but Burton received a five-minute major for facewashing and was ejected from the game. Burton wouldn’t be the only player ejected from the game however.
With 5:34 left in the period Wash laid a vicious hit along the boards on August. Walsh was assessed a five-minute major for head contact and ejected. This proved to be a rallying point for the Blue Devils, who went on to score four goals in the last five minutes of the game. Three came during the five minute power play and one came shorthanded in the last minute. Scoring the four goals for the Devils were Lis, Leyerzapf, August, and Frank Pisano. The final score of the game was 8-3, Central, with August recording a hat trick.
The second game of the weekend was against the Westfield State Owls on Saturday. Unlike the night before, this was a game of defense, goalies, and missed opportunities for both teams.
Four minutes into the first period, Central’s Jack Johnson made it a 1-0 game, when he found the back of the net on a pass from Arron August. The Owls tied it up with four minutes left in the period when Tyler Reopel redirected Ryan Garvey’s shot from the blue line. That would be the last goal for the next 44 minutes, with both goalies stopping anything thrown their way.
With three periods in the books and a tie game the Blue Devils and the Owls lined up for a five-minute sudden death overtime. With 2:20 left to play, Central’s Jack Johnson scored the game winner.
“[Brendon] Quirion blocked the shot and shoveled it up to me.” Johnson said, describing the goal, “It was a 2 or 3 on 1 and Kyle [Leyerzapf] drew the defensemen off me, and I took a shot and it trickled in.”
The Blue Devils look to keep their winning streak going next weekend on the road, when they play the College of New Jersey on Oct. 3 and William Patterson University on the Oct. 4.