This past weekend, NYU took on Drexel once again in back-to-back games at home. The first of the two games in this series, on Friday night, started off strong. Less than seven minutes into the first period, the first goal was scored by Adam Peck (#16), with an assist from Elias Cohen (#13). Two minutes later, NYU scored again, with a goal by Mac Brice (#22) and assists from Josh Stich (#27) and Reagan Wortz (#6). Just over the halfway mark in the first period, NYU made the score 3-0, with a goal by Adam Svoboda (#19) and assists from Brice and Stich.
With such a fast-paced first period, NYU carried this momentum into the second, with their first goal of the period coming at approximately the five minute mark, scored by Alyosha Song (#8), his first with NYU, and an assist from Adam Peck. Drexel then scored twice in the next four minutes, bringing the score to 4-2 with half of the game left. With three minutes left in the second period, NYU widened the gap even further, with Theo Hembre (#2) scoring unassisted, ending the period at 5-2.
Comparatively, the third period was much slower than the first two. Drexel made an attempt to get back in the game when they scored halfway through the third, dropping the goal deficit to only two goals, but NYU secured the win with an empty net goal at the end of the game from Adam Svoboda. The game ended 6-3, an impressive showing by NYU. It was a fast-paced game with an impressive goaltending job by goalie Chris Cataldo, making 37 saves on 40 shots faced.
“We made it our goal to win the first period, which we accomplished and set ourselves up for the rest of the game. It was a great full team effort that earned us a big win in front of our home crown. We hope to carry some of those good habits into this weekend against Delaware,” said Svoboda, who scored two goals on Friday.
The second game of the weekend series started much slower. Drexel scored the first and only goal of the first period on a power play nearly sixteen minutes in. NYU turned this around and went onto the ice strong for the second period, scoring their first goal in under a minute – scored by James Orne (#17) and assisted by Adam Svoboda (#19). Just over a minute later, James Orne scored again with an assist from Mac Brice (#22), bringing NYU to the lead. Five minutes before the end of the period, Drexel was granted a penalty shot and was successful – ending the second period tied 2-2. The game slowed down during the third period until Adam Peck (#16) scored eight minutes in during a power play, assisted by Brandon Wilky (#24). The Violets fought hard to keep this lead, but Drexel tied up the game in the last two minutes of the period. The game went into overtime and Drexel scored a minute in, ending the game 4-3 for a Drexel win.
Goalie Chris Cataldo faced nearly double the shots that Drexel’s goalie saw on Saturday night’s game, saving 44 of the 48 shots faced – keeping the team in the game and yet another very impressive play from him.
James Orne, who scored twice for NYU at Saturday’s game, says, “It was a tough loss but obviously it’s hard to beat any team four times in a row. I thought we had a good response to a not-so-strong first period but we definitely need to work on our composure going forward. Hopefully, we’ll start to grow as a team and be able to hold onto our third period leads a little better as that seems to have been our downfall thus far in the season. Cataldo did a great job keeping us in the game and really bailed us out more than a few times. It was good to see some of our younger guys get on the score sheet this weekend and hopefully they’ll be able to keep contributing going forward.”
After four games against the Drexel Dragons, the NYU Violets will be playing the University of Delaware Blue Hens this upcoming weekend – with a home game on Friday night at 8pm and an away game on Saturday. Check out our season schedule for more information and follow our Twitter (@nyuicehockey) for live game updates