The Seawolves may have entered this weekend’s two-game set with the Liberty Flames as the underdogs, but two strong efforts against the nation’s No. 6-ranked team resulted in consecutive victories.
After losing five out of the last six games of 2018, the first period on Saturday, January 19 looked like it may be more of the same in the new year. Liberty found the back of the net three times in the opening 20 minutes to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Down but not out, the Seawolves came back with a strong second period to tie the game at 3-3.
“The first period was a few breakdowns,” Head Coach Chris Garofalo said. “It wasn’t like they were in our end the whole period. It was really three breakdowns. Our message was stick to the game plan, it’s working, be positive and the mental state in the locker room wasn’t down.”
Sophomore forward Keith O’Brien put his team on the board midway through the second period to begin chipping away at the Flames’ lead. About six minutes later junior forward Kevin Murphy scored to decrease the Seawolves’ deficit to just one goal, and junior forward Devon Palmieri evened the score with 1:05 left in the period. The scoring ceased in the third period despite quality chances at both ends of the rink, sending the game into overtime.
Stony Brook played a solid defensively in the five-minute 3-on-3 and fended off a strong Liberty push and sent the game into a shootout. Junior goalie Sean Keating turned aside all three shots he faced and senior defenseman Frank Coscia scored his first shootout goal as a Seawolf to complete the comeback victory.
Saturday’s game also marked the 300th behind the bench for Garofalo as Head Coach and Colin Brumsted as Associate Coach.
“It’s more of a team milestone than it is about me,” Garofalo said. “I didn’t even realize I had 300 games so I’m just proud that I’ve been able to be a part of this [team], help develop this and help develop these guys.”
There was no comeback necessary in the second game of the weekend on Sunday, January 20. Stony Brook broke the ice with a goal from freshman forward Dustin Rinaldo in the first period and never looked back. O’Brien and Palmieri each scored their second goal of the weekend in the second period and Coscia deposited one behind Liberty senior goalie Cole Burack in the third to take a 4-0 lead. Junior forward Brock Thompson put his team on the board with six minutes remaining in regulation, but it was too little too late for the Flames who fell 4-1.
The Seawolves’ resilience and strong defensive play were important reasons for the successful start to the second half. Keating stood tall in net, allowing just one goal on 71 shots after the first period of Saturday’s game. Changes in practice throughout the week also helped the team prepare for the challenge Liberty would present.
“I’ve got to give credit to my assistant coaches,” Garofalo said. “They talked about what we needed to adjust and we came back and shut them down. We implemented a new system [this week] and it takes a little time to get it under your feet.“
The Seawolves will head to Michigan next weekend for their biggest challenge of the season against the No. 3 Adrian Bulldogs. Stony Brook went 1-2-0 against Adrian last season including a 4-0 elimination loss at the ACHA National Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
Written by: Peter Lupfer
