College Hockey Stats Box Score
Utica, NY -- With 1:27 left in the overtime period,
Alexander Taulien '17 sent a blistering slap shot past the glove side of the Utica goaltender to lift the Elmira College men's ice hockey team (11-10-3, 5-7-2 ECAC West) 2-1 over Utica College (11-9-4, 4-8-2 ECAC West) in an ECAC West matchup today. With the win, the Purple and Gold will clinch the fourth seed and a home playoff game in the ECAC West playoffs.
Ryan deMelo '15 made 36 saves in the overtime win.
The Pioneers would strike first, scoring a shorthanded goal 5:22 into the first period to give Utica an early 1-0 lead. With 3:27 left in the first period,
Nick Okada '18 found the puck at mid-ice and, while spinning, sent the puck towards
Jeremy Marginsky '18. The puck was tipped by a Pioneer defenseman but that would not stop Marginsky as he poked the puck past the defender at the blue line and then skated past him to go on a 1-0 opportunity with the Pioneer netminder. Marginsky then punched the puck through the five-hole to tie the game at 1-1. The Pioneers held the slight advantage in the first in shots, 11-10.
The Purple and Gold spent a good amount of time on the penalty kill in the second period, giving way to the Pioneers outshooting the Soaring Eagles 11-4 in the second stanza.
The Soaring Eagles would see a couple of chances to put in the go-ahead goal in third but could not find the back of the net. deMelo kept the EC men in the game making save after save against the attacking Pioneers and finished the period with 15 saves. At the end of regulation time, neither team could break the tie, causing an overtime period.
With about 1:30 left in the overtime period, Okada picked up the puck in the defensive zone and sent the puck across ice to
Michael Martin '18 who then sent the puck back across the ice towards Taulien. The puck hit a Utica player in his skates in neutral ice Taulien poked at the puck and sent it ahead. Taulien picked the puck up at the blue line and skated to the right side faceoff circle and sent a scorching slap shot past the glove side of the Pioneer netminder to win the game in overtime.
deMelo did not need to make any saves in the overtime period as the Purple and Gold outshot Utica 4-0 in the period.
The Soaring Eagles will compete in their home and regular season finale on February 20th against ECAC West foe Hobart College at 7:00 p.m.
