Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
In their home opener, the Southern Ice Owls suffered a heart ache of a loss to the Quinnipiac Braves Friday night at the Northford Ice Pavilion. Going into the third period with a 4-2 lead, the Ice Owls gave up three straight goals to the Braves within the first five minutes of the third period.
“It came out of nowhere,” said Ice Owls captain Dylan Gillis. “They wanted it more than we did. I think coming off our big win against University of New Haven, we came in with a huge head. I think a lot of guys are going to learn from this experience.”
The Ice Owl have 10 new players on the roster this year, and in only their second game of the year the team is still working out the kinks. The majority of the lines and the defensive pairings for the Ice Owls were completely different at the end of the game then they were at the start of the tilt.
“I think we have some things to work on,” said head coach Bob O’Brien. “We have a lot of rookies to the team this year, but I think we are going to have a much more positive season than we did last year.”
@SCSU_HOCKEY photos are available from Friday’s game here: http://t.co/0LITpAhrhd
— StephenDeBaise Photo (@DeBaisePhoto) October 12, 2014
The power-play was working early and often for the Ice Owls, converting on two of their six chances on the night. They opened up the scoring with the only goal in the first period scored by Steve Ruocco. The top line of Tom Brunski, Blake Biancamano, and Ruocco was the Ice Owls best line all night long. “Brunski got thrown on mine and Ruocco’s line in the middle of the game but we adjusted,” said Biancamano, who had a goal and two assists including two power play points. “We moved the puck well, we kept moving, and we made some good chances.” The Owls held their 1-0 lead going into the second. Cam Curley opened up the scoring for the Braves. Curley roofed a shot top left over the shoulder of Ice Owls goalie Mike Paolini, who had 35 saves in the game. After that it wasn’t very hard to find offense for either team. Five total goals in the second period, three from the Ice Owls and two from the Braves. “We had some good fore-checks and we stayed confident throughout the game. We are still working things out because it’s early, but we are going to continue to grind it out and stick to our system,” said Biancamano.
Only a few more days until these make their debut. SCSU v. Farmingdale State, Friday 9:15 @NorthfordIce pic.twitter.com/aK2ebK8blY
— SCSU Ice Hockey (@SCSU_HOCKEY) October 14, 2014
Then the youth of the Southern Connecticut team started to show. The Ice Owls defense made a few mistakes that the Braves jumped all over and took advantage of. The first two minutes of the third period saw two Braves’ goals go by Paolini, and it was a tie game again.
“I don’t think we need to make any changes as far as what we are implementing, but we need to have more discipline in the systems we are playing. It’s going to work out, it’s definitely going to work out,” said O’Brien.
Colin Fay capped of the comeback for the Braves. With the Ice Owls on the power-play, Fay received a pass in the neutral zone with speed and broke in on a breakaway. After making a few stick handles, Fay put the puck in the back of the net giving the Braves their first lead of the game 5-4.
The Ice Owls fought the rest of the period trying to tie the game to send it into overtime, but even with the goalie pulled and six men on the ice, Southern couldn’t produce another goal.
The Braves would go on to win their third straight game. The Ice Owls look to get their first home win in their new arena Friday, Oct. 17 against Farmingdale State University.
Photo Credit: Bart Hanlon
