Pete Paguaga, Sports Editor-
The Southern Ice Owls took home the Empire Collegiate Conference, with an overtime victory against Farmingdale State University, 6-5. Southern hadn’t beat Farmingdale State all season, losing the last time by one goal after blowing a three-goal lead.
This time around the game would be different.
“This is huge for the hockey program,” said Coach Novador. “It is a stepping stone for the future of the program.”
The Ice Owls jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the first period, with goals from Joe Innamorato and the Ice Owls’ leading scorer, Steven Rosencrantz.
Novador liked the way his team looked going into the game.
“The kids were the most focused all year,” said Novador, “they were very quiet on the bus.”
The second period saw Farmingdale take the lead after scoring two goals, before Pete BonTempo scored with less then a minute left in the second period to tie the game up at three going into the third period.
The third period again saw Farmingdale scoring first to take the lead 4-3, with a little less than six minutes to play in the game.
The Ice Owls responded two minutes later as Rosencrantz put home the tying goal.
Farmingdale wouldn’t go away, as they scored 40 seconds later to take the lead with under a minute and half left in the game.
With the game and season looking as if it was all but over, one of the Ice Owls’ leaders scored with 15 seconds left in the game to send the game to overtime.
With the momentum from Innamorato’s goal, the Owls made sure overtime didn’t last too long as Rosencrantz scored his third goal of the game only a minute and a half into the overtime period to make the Ice Owls victorious.
“Even though we didn’t win regionals, we accomplished one of our goals,” said Novador.
“We have the confidence to win big games now, we want nationals next year.”
The Ice Owls have most of their team returning for next season, only losing defenseman Sam Brown and forward Michael Dubecky. The team is looking to build on the success from this season and use it to help them go further next season.
The Ice Owls’ season ended after winning their conference as they failed to quailfy for the National Tournament. They finished with a 15-5-1 record.
