REISTERSTOWN, Md. -- The Elmira College men's ice hockey team avenged an earlier-season setback in dominant fashion on Friday night, as the Purple and Gold scored seven unanswered goals en route to an 8-2 road victory over United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) rival Stevenson University. With the win, the Soaring Eagles (16-7-1, 12-5-0 UCHC) moved within one league point in the UCHC standings of the third-place Stevenson Mustangs (15-7-2, 12-4-1- UCHC).
 
Marty Kapoian '22 shined for the Soaring Eagles, as he produced the first hat trick of his collegiate career. Two of his tallies were registered on the power play. Nick Ford '20 tied Kapoian for the team lead in points, as the senior extended his point streak to 24 games with a trio of assists.
 
Kapoian and Ford were two of 14 skaters to produce points tonight for the Purple and Gold, and two of six multi-point performers.
 
Kale Kane '21, Matthew Cousino '22, Matthew Cuce '20, and Harry Kramer '20 recorded two points apiece. Kane scored the game-opening goal and assisted on a power-play tally, while Cousino, Cuce, and Kramer were all credited with two assists apiece.
 
Connor Powell '20, Graham Denomme '23, Larry Niland '23, Nick Grinvalds '22, Spencer Carter '20, Alex Gagnon '23, Andrew Pucci '20, and Jake Russo '23 finished with one point each. Powell, Denomme, Niland, and Grinvalds all scored goals this evening, while Carter, Gagnon, Pucci, and Russo all picked up an assist. Powell's goal went down as tonight's game-winner.
 
Chris Janzen '21 got the start in net tonight for the Soaring Eagles. He finished with 22 saves, 11 of which came in the second period, to improve to 10-4-0 during the 2019-20 campaign.
 
Elmira took the first lead of the game at 11:26 in the first period on a well-executed offensive-zone faceoff win. After winning the faceoff, Kane camped out in front of the net before re-directing a shot from Kramer at the point into the back of the goal.
 
Stevenson's Austin Master leveled the contest at 16:49, the first of back-to-back goals for the Mustangs, as the home side eventually took a 2-1 lead 1:18 into the second stanza. However, that was the last time Stevenson saw a lead tonight thanks to an offensive explosion by the Purple and Gold. The Soaring Eagles took full control of tonight's contest by scoring seven unanswered goals, four in the second period and three in the third frame.  
 
The scoring frenzy started with Kapoian at 1:45. Elmira forced a turnover in Stevenson's defensive zone, setting up a pass from Russo to Kapoian in the slot. The second-year forward took the pass and beats Stevenson's Ryan Kenny for the goal. Along with Russo, Pucci was credited with an assist on the tally.
 
Then, at 6:49, Powell reclaimed the lead for the Elmira men by scoring his 12th goal of the season. The scoring play started with a pass from Ford to Cuce, who fired a shot on net. Cuce's attempt was padded away but not covered up, as Powell buried the rebound for the go-ahead tally.
 
Grinvalds doubled the Elmira lead at 10:31 with his first tally of the season. A shot by Cousino at the point was kicked away by Kenny, but the rebound went all the way past the right faceoff circle. Grinvalds was close by, noticed Kenny was out of position after making the save, and one-timed the puck through traffic for the goal.
 
Kapoian scored back-to-back power-play goals, once at 18:19 of the second stanza and again at 17:12 of the third period. His first goal came on a beautiful passing play that saw the puck go from point-to-point, before splitting defenders cross-ice to Kapoian on the right point. From there, Kapoian one-timed it past a screened Kenny for the goal. Kapoian cashed in again on the power play late in the third period to complete the hat trick.
 
From there, EC continued its assault with two additional goals from rookies Denomme and Niland. Denomme potted his first of the season at 17:39, while Niland put an exclamation point on tonight's win by scoring his first career goal with just nine seconds on the clock to seal an 8-2 victory.
 
News and Notes

• Elmira moved within one league point of third-place Stevenson in the UCHC standings.
• Elmira outshot Stevenson, 44-24.
• EC went 2-for-6 on the power play, while Stevenson went 0-for-2.
• Elmira's eight-goal total is its second-highest output of the season.
• Ford extended his point streak to 24 games.
• Kapoian recorded his first career hat trick.
• Kapoian scored both of Elmira's power-play goals.
• Niland scored the first goal of his collegiate career.
• Powell produced tonight's game-winning goal.
• Grinvalds scored his first goal of the season.

 
Up Next
The Elmira men conclude the 2019-20 campaign tomorrow evening, when they travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to face the Cougars of Chatham University. The puck is set to drop at 4:00 p.m.