Hockey penalties prevent perfect weekend

Rachel Ruecker, Staff Writer

Following a weekend sweep of victories on the road, the NYU hockey team was back at home Friday to take on Northeastern University to prove that they could once again find the consistency they showed early on in the season.

NYU junior forward David Shaby started off the scoring at 4:47. What ensued after was a scrummy case of back-to-back-to-back penalties — a common narrative for the Violets this season. Just when it seemed as though NYU would finally have its moment on the man advantage, freshman forward Hamilton Whyte got a slashing call to end the first 4-on-4. Shots favored NYU 15-5 at the period’s end.

Early in the second, NYU was forced to kill a 5-on-3 penalty, and sophomore forward Michael Conslato went on to find the back of the net with help from freshmen defensemen Gabe Regan and Connor Finocchio. The penalties kept piling up and Northeastern got yet another 5-on-3 chance at 12:09, which they again used to tie the game.

At two apiece, the game was even strength at last, but Northeastern got one 5-on-5 to end up on top. The brief moment of even strength was short-lived when Regan was served a 2-minute roughing call and a 10-minute misconduct call late in the second.

The gap widened when the Huskies went up two at 5:15 of the third. NYU got a couple powerplay opportunities, and though the first was neatly killed by Northeastern, the second time around they weren’t so lucky as Conslato got his second goal of the game to bring the game within one. A third Northeastern penalty presented the perfect opportunity for NYU to tie things up late, but they couldn’t capitalize and ended up dropping the penalty-laden game 4-3.

Sunday the Violets headed to the Loucks Ice Center in Lawrenceville, New Jersey to face off against Rider University in hopes of splitting the weekend’s efforts.

The game got off to a rocky start after a hit on Ripley ignored by the refs and an early goal put the Violets down by one. NYU then went on the powerplay late, but ended the period still down one, despite outshooting Rider 15-8.

Though NYU could not capitalize on a Rider interference call in the second, they got one in 5-on-5 when freshman forward John Kowalewski tied things up at one.

Partway through the third, Rider got the go-ahead goal at even strength. Less than two minutes later, Ripley tied it up to keep up the frenetic pace Violets fans have become accustomed to. Then, at long last, freshman forward Max Devorris put the Violets in the lead. But it didn’t last long as they conceded a shorthanded goal after a Rider timeout.

After several scrums, penalties and kills — and some marvelous handiwork from sophomore goaltender Jack Nebe — Rider got a powerplay goal to lead late. But all was not lost as Conslato, the weekend’s standout, tied the game with 4:24 remaining. And just when it appeared as though overtime was inevitable, sophomore forward Steven Esposito knocked one in, nudging NYU ahead. Rider pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but NYU held off their late charge and took the game 5-4.

After Thanksgiving break, the squad will be back against Providence College on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., at the Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Nov. 23 print edition. Email Rachel Ruecker at [email protected].