Stony Brook Hockey returned to The Rinx this past weekend, facing off against the Delaware Blue Hens. With the top spot in the ESCHL’s standings up for grabs, the Seawolves took care of business and secured a sweep with a 3-1 win on Saturday, January 8 and a 4-1 win on Sunday, January 9.
After dropping a pair of games in Delaware to close out the first half of the season, Stony Brook responded with a strong effort and never trailed in this weekend’s series. Senior forward Joseph Slevin picked up the Seawolves’ first goal of the new year about midway through the first period of game one, becoming the third Seawolf this season to record at least 10 goals. Though the Blue Hens tied the game at 1-1 in the second, junior forward Shawn Rainville responded with a goal in his first game at Stony Brook to make it 2-1 Seawolves through 40 minutes. The score went unchanged for most of the third, but with just over a minute to go freshman defenseman Andrew Mancini scored an insurance goal into the empty net to secure a 3-1 win.
Game two got off to a similar start, with senior forward Filip Pomianek giving the Seawolves a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Junior forward Matt Minerva lit the lamp with his first goal as a Seawolf in the second, which he followed up with a second goal later in the period. Leading 3-1 with under five minutes remaining in regulation, Stony Brook tacked on one last power play goal off the stick of senior forward Charles Peck to complete the 4-1 victory.
This weekend’s sweep boosted the Seawolves two spots in the ACHA National Rankings, with the team now ranked 11th in the country. They will travel to Athens, Ohio this weekend for a matchup against the 16th-ranked Ohio Bobcats at Bird Arena. Game one will be on Friday, January 14 at 7:00 p.m. and game two will be Saturday, January 15 at 7:00 p.m.
