College Hockey Stats Box Score
Pine Valley, NY -- The Elmira College men's ice hockey team was 1:39 from securing a marquee win for their résumé, but a late goal from No. 5 Oswego State led to a 2-2 overtime tie. The Soaring Eagle defense, led by senior goaltender
Ryan deMelo '15, held the high-powered Laker attack, which was averaging nearly five goals per contest entering tonight, to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. deMelo had one of his best games of the season tonight, stopping 35 shots in a shade under 65 minutes of play.
The entire game was played at a fast pace, but the first period saw the two teams racing back-and-forth between the two offensive zones. The fast pace did not lead to an abundance of shots as Elmira and Oswego combined for just 18 shots, the lowest of any of the three regulation periods.
The Soaring Eagles would get on the board first after forcing a Laker turnover in the neutral zone. Forcing the turnover was
Taylor Love '16, who was making his first appearance of the season tonight. Love advanced the puck to
Jarryd ten Vaanholt '16 who then found
Greg Whittle '16 in the right slot. Whittle fired a low-lining shot that slipped past Justin Gilbert's blocker and gave the Purple and Gold the 1-0 lead. It looked as if EC would take that 1-0 advantage into the first intermission, but Oswego had other ideas as they tied the score with just 0.6 seconds left in the first period. The Lakers, with just seconds on the clock, intercepted a Soaring Eagle pass and advanced into their offensive zone. A centering pass from Brandon Adams set up Stephen Johnson for a one-timer that beat deMelo low and to his left, bringing the game to a 1-1 tie after the first period of play.
The second period saw a flurry of shots from both teams, 26 in total, but only one goal as both deMelo and Gilbert proved up to the task. The goal came early in the period as
Travis Meyer '17 netted his first goal of the season just 2:22 into the second period. The play originated on the side board in EC's offensive zone where
Andrew Ciampichini '15 jostled for the puck with an Oswego defender. Ciampichini, after winning the puck, sent it down behind the net to
Alexander Taulien '17. Taulien spotted an open Meyer in front of the net and then Meyer, showing patience, skated across the face of the net with the puck and lifted it over an outstretched Gilbert to put EC up 2-1. Despite a number of quality chances for both squads throughout the remainder of the period, Elmira went into the locker rooms with a 2-1 advantage.
Elmira's ability to hold their lead appeared to take a hit as Taulien was whistled for a major interference penalty, putting EC on the penalty kill for five minutes. But, after killing 51 seconds of the Taulien penalty, Oswego's Kenny Neil was whistled for an interference penalty of his own for running into deMelo. Neither team scored during the two minutes of 4-on-4 play but it left EC's penalty kill unit with a manageable 2:09, which they killed with reasonable ease.
The Soaring Eagles continued to cling to their one-goal advantage with time ticking down in the third period. But with 3:22 left to play,
Tommy Sumi '16 was called for a slashing penalty, putting the Lakers, and their number three nationally-ranked power-play unit, in a man-up situation. EC nearly erased the entirety of Sumi's penalty, but Oswego scored the equalizer with 27 seconds left in the power play. The score would hold at 2-2 over the final 1:39 and the two teams went to overtime.
In the overtime period, it would be Elmira who had the best scoring opportunities and both came from the stick of Sumi. The first chance came early in the overtime period as Sumi lined-up a slapshot near the left faceoff circle. Sumi's shot would have beaten Gilbert, but his attempt ricocheted off the outside of the post, sending a unified groan throughout the 1,185 in attendance.
Then, with just over a minute left, Sumi once again found himself with just Gilbert to beat, this time on a breakaway. Sumi, with a full head of steam, skated directly at a backpedaling Gilbert and fired a hard shot towards the top of the net, but Gilbert made a last-second glove save to deny Sumi of the game-winner. That would be the final true scoring chance of the evening as the two teams skated out the final minute and finished with a 2-2 tie.
EC returns to the MAC Ice Arena tomorrow night to take on their final non-conference opponent of the season, Salve Regina University. The game against the Seahawks is set to start at 7:00 p.m.
