In a battle of the top two teams in the ESCHL, the Rams and Stony Brook each grab a game in their weekend series. PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Clark | Staff Photographer
A tale of two cities would best describe the way the No. 21 University of Rhode Island Men’s Ice Hockey team’s games against Stony Brook University went.
The Rams split their two-game series with the Seawolves and have virtually solidified themselves as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) playoffs set to start on Feb. 18.
Game 1 went to Stony Brook in a complete blowout. Early in the first period, a URI penalty presented the Seawolves with their first power play opportunity. A shot from Stony Brook forward Joseph Slevin at the top of the offensive zone gave them a 1-0 lead. Still inside the first half of the period, Seawolves forward Michael Conlin got behind the URI defense during a line swap and scored on the breakaway, extending the lead to 2-0.
Not long after, Stony Brooks forward Kyle Nestepny got in between the defense and scored on a backhand shot that went through the legs of Rams goaltender Curtis Briggs. The deficit would soon be extended to 4-0 just a few minutes later when Stony Brook defenseman Matthew McDermitt took a shot on goal. Briggs would get a piece of this shot, but not enough, as the puck would still find its way into the net.
The Rams regrouped somewhat in the second period, minimizing Stony Brook’s scoring chances, but this would not slow down the Seawolves as defenseman Brendan Pepe tacked on another goal to make the deficit 5-0 heading into the third period.
After a forgettable night, the Rams decided to swap Briggs for freshman goaltender Callum Burgess in the third period. Even with the change, Rhode Island could not stop the bleeding as forward Brandon Avezov of Stony Brook scored to make it 6-0. The lone bright spot for URI would be Nick Ferraro, who finally put the Rams on the board and scored his tenth goal of the season. Unfortunately, Stony Brook tacked on one more goal to come away with a 7-1 win.
“We didn’t come out good and things in that game kind of snowballed and you can’t give a team like Stony Brook chances,” Rhode Island Men’s Hockey coach Joe Augustine said. “The first period was bad, but we kind of started to settle down a little bit, but we’re down 4-0.”
Game 2 was a complete turnaround for URI as they would get back on track and play how they wanted to. Midway through the first period, Rhode Island was penalized with a cross-checking penalty, giving Stony Brook a power play opportunity. The previous game started off with a power play goal, but the Rams wanted to ensure those events didn’t ensue once more as they successfully killed the penalty.
With the game still scoreless heading into the second, forward Alex Cudd would break through and light the lamp for URI, giving them the 1-0 lead.
The Rams would hold on in the third period to win 1-0. The story of the night was Briggs recording a 42-save shutout against Stony Brook’s high-powered offense.
“We all talked before the second game, in the locker room, and we just put that first game behind us,” Briggs said. “The seniors only have so many games left, so we have to put it behind us and that’s the way I took it too. We acted too serious about it [the first game], of course it was a big game and we had an opportunity to pick up a couple wins from a really good team, but I think we over-thought it, so in the second game we tried to relax and have fun. Play it as a game.”
The team will be traveling to Lehigh University in a non-league matchup this Friday and Saturday. This will be the first time since 2014 that the two teams will be playing each other.
“We haven’t played them in years and they haven’t played us, so you don’t know one another, you only have scores to look at, so you gotta be ready to play,” Augustine said.