The Icers’ run-and-gun offense continues to shoot out the rapid fire goals as they guned down both Buffalo State 6-2 and Ohio University 7-2 to win the OU Tournament.
“These are the toughest games we’ve had this season,” said forward Ross Cowan. “But once we get started, it is hard to slow back down. We really get up for games like these.”
Since the Icers no longer play Niagra, OU has developed into one of Penn State’s most intense rivals.”We don’t need any incentive to be up for OU,” Cowan said. “We’ll go after them just because of who they are.”
Both teams blazed out like fire on ice for the first period of the Championship match between the two arch rivals. OU was coming off of a 19-2 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers, and the Icers handled Buffalo State 6-2.
Both teams were executing every play with fine precision, and were scrapping for the opportunity to be the first step up.
Almost nine minutes into the first period the C.C.M. line started the scoring. Mark Cervellero with an assist from his brother Chris Cervellero, and forward Dave Murphy, whom the line is named for, momentarily broke the stalemate.
Six minutes later OU answered with a power play goal of its own. Less than two minutes later, a similar exchange took place when Cowan’s goal was answered by a fluke OU goal.
“The guy was in the corner and threw the puck at the net and it bounced off of a defender’s leg,” Battista said. “There was nothing you can realy do in situations like that. It was luck.”
Nearing the end of the first period the Icers unleashed a mini-flurry, and scored two quick unanswered goals.
Cowan quoted his coach saying, “We’re an experienced offensive team, and when we score, you can expect two or three more to follow. We will score in flurries.”
The first was a play that the Icers have worked on all season. Brad Russle was behind the net, and made a pass out to Cowan, who was at the left face-off circle, and Cowan centered the puck to Rob Keegan, who was streaking towards the net, and sunk the puck.
“It was an extremely competitive first period,” Battista said. “It makes for great hockey to watch.”
The Icers wanted to establish their dominance early in the second period, and scored the first goal in only two and a half minutes.
OU breifly threatened a comeback in the form of a 3-on-1 breakaway, but a swift save by John Gray took the frost out of OU’s bite.
“Johnny was tough in the net,” Cowan said. “He was great, and without him our goals wouldn’t have mattered.”
Battista said the Icers played flawless hockey through the second and third period of the match, and was pleased with the balance of the offense and defense. The Icers left OU very few shots on goal, and increased their lead to 6-2 at the end of the second period.
The final goal came at the end of the third period when Keegan with an assist from Cowan and Scott Mangene sealed the game, and the OU Tournament championship with a 7-2 victory over their rivals.
“We learned our potential,” Cowan said. “We still need to work, but we learned what we can do against tough opponents.”
Battista is quite pleased with the championship, but is still wary over getting overly excited this early in the season.
“We got our first piece of hardware, but I’m still trying to suppress the excitement,” he said, ” but, boy, we were playing some great hockey. I still have to try to contain my excitement, though, the season is young.”