Photo by Frank Rincon Tavarez
The Ramapo club ice hockey team won its 12th and 13th consecutive games to open up the 2016-17 season.
They defeated Stevens on Friday night with a 7-4 victory and followed up with a road victory at East Stroudsberg University with a final score of 7-0.
Before the puck dropped on Friday, the team honored the nation’s servicemen and women, as well as all veterans of war.
After Ramapo alumna Claire Chapel performed the national anthem, LTC John D. Nawoichyk, Assistant Athletic Director of Operations at the USMA at West Point, dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Head coach Bob Smith said it was a great celebration prior to the start of the game.
“We had a really good turnout. The kids were into it. The kids enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, the rest of the coaching staff,” said Smith. “We’re gonna try to make it an annual event and try to get the word out.”
After the ceremony, it was time for hockey, but things did not start well for the Roadrunners as Stevens came out with a 2-0 lead.
Just about three minutes after Stevens’ second goal, however, freshman forward Kyle DeBel increased his team-leading goal total with his 17th of the year, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Two minutes later, senior defenseman Marc Concato scored a shorthanded goal on a slapshot to tie it up at 2.
Ramapo would get the lead with an early second period goal scored by sophomore defenseman Keith Henning.
However, two minutes later, Stevens tied the game at 3, regaining the lead three minutes after that.
That would be all the scoring Stevens would have, though, as the Roadrunners scored four unanswered goals in the third period, with the game-tying and game-winning goals scored by freshman defenseman Keith Doherty.
Henning would go on to score his second goal of the evening, while freshman forward Dan Demarco would find the back of the net for the Roadrunners’ seventh and final goal of the game.
On Sunday, the Roadrunners traveled to East Stroudsberg, where they returned home with a 7-0 victory.
The Roadrunners scored four goals in the first period – junior forward Zach O’Connor found the back of the net first, followed by goals from DeBel, sophomore forward Dmitry Danilchik, and DeBel again.
O’Connor scored his second goal of the game early in the second period, followed by a goal by Doherty to make it 6-0.
Sophomore defenseman Ryan Worth scored the seventh and final goal of the game.
The Roadrunners will take on Columbia this Friday night at 8:30 p.m. at Sport-O-Rama in Monsey, New York.
They will play Fordham University on Sunday at 8 p.m.
The rookie head coach said, jokingly, “Hopefully there are no injuries, everyone passes their classes and we have a full team.”
rmorik@ramapo.edu
