Ramapo’s ice hockey team split a pair of Empire Division games over the weekend, defeating Sacred Heart University on Saturday and losing to Quinnipiac University on Sunday. The Roadrunners now stand at a 5-12 record on the season, sitting two points behind Sacred Heart and seven points behind Quinnipiac.
Beginning with Saturday’s game, the Roadrunners found themselves in a 2-0 deficit after the first period. Both Sacred Heart goals were scored by Anthony Gerace, his seventh and eighth goals of the season. Tallying assists on the goals were James Gaffney, Alexander Giuliano and Dylan Matulewicz.
The first 17 minutes of the second period did not see much action, but from that point on, the game belonged to the Roadrunners. In the final three minutes of the period, Ramapo scored three goals.
Alternate captain Rick Kimble put his seventh goal of the season through the net, off assists from captain Eddie Dahdah and alternate Rory Maurer. Less than a minute later, freshman Luca Carnemolla scored his first career collegiate goal, off an assist from Daniel Klutkoski. With eight seconds left in the period, new transfer Anthony Fizer scored a power play goal, his first as a Roadrunner. Fizer’s goal, which gave Ramapo their first lead of the night, was assisted by Maurer and Dahdah.
In the third period, the Roadrunners continued to add on to their lead. Dahdah scored his 21st goal of the season, assisted by Maurer and Christopher Dressler. Senior Trent Shanley then scored his 19th goal of the season, assisted by Kimble and Dahdah. Maurer added an unassisted shorthanded goal, an
d Carnemolla continued his career night by his second goal of the game, leading Ramapo to a 7-2 victory.
In net for the Roadrunners was Paul Fiorello, who was making his second start of the season. Fiorello saved 19 of 21 shot attempts from Sacred Heart, good for a .904 save percentage. For the Pioneers, James Burtch saved 46 of 53 shot attempts from Ramapo, giving him a .867 save percentage on the night.
Sunday’s game against Quinnipiac did not go as well for the Roadrunners, as they quickly found themselves down 5-0 in the first 37 minutes of action. The Bobcats only scored once in the first period, courtesy of a goal by Francesco Coppola, but then scored four straight times to open up the second period. Quinnipiac saw Jake Russo score twice, Jacob Noyes score once and Alex Chaconas score once.
It wasn’t until the 2:56 mark of the second period when Ramapo finally got on the board, as Shanley knocked through an unassisted goal, his 20th of the season. Peter Paszkiel followed Shanley by scoring his fourth goal of the season, off assists from Dahdah and Maurer.
Coppola got the Bobcats back in the scoring column to start the final period, his second goal of the game. Dressler scored his first goal back from his absence, off assists from Fizer and Shanley. Quinnipiac added another goal from Glen Considine, leading to a 7-3 final score.
Denis McGarry started in net for the Roadrunners, saving 42 of 49 shots he faced. For Quinnipiac, Ryan Solomon saved 30 of the 33 shots he faced from the Roadrunners.
The Roadrunners next two games come this weekend, the first on Friday, Feb 10 at Fairfield University at 8:30 p.m. The second comes at home on Saturday, Feb. 11 against Hofstra University at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Kira Allyn.
