2008 Woodie Awards
Men's hockey iced by Penn State
Chris Almonte
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Sports
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The Rams, who defeated Penn State to win the National Championship two years ago, found themselves on the short end of 5-1 and 4-1 decisions on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Rhode Island has now lost six consecutive contests to Penn State.
"When you are playing a team like Penn State you need to play your best hockey and we really didn't," Rhode Island defenseman Robbie Peterson said.
On Friday night, Rhode Island fell behind early, 2-0, but freshman Peter Ducharme finally got the home team on the board when he beat Penn State goalie Nick Signet at 14:07 of the second period. From there, it was all Penn State as the Icers added three more goals to take control of the game. Rhode Island goalie Andrew Lisi kept the Rams in the game early, but the 33-shot Penn State barrage was too much.
On the other end of the ice, Rhody was only able to manage 25 shots on Icer netminder Nick Signet. Tempers flared throughout the weekend, both on the ice and in the stands. The teams were called for 36 penalties in the series and the tension on the ice spilled over into the stands as students and parents were separated late in the second period on Friday night.
On Saturday night it looked like the Rams were ready to bounce back when they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, courtesy of sophomore Sean Arthur, who lit the lamp at 13:49 of the first period. Arthur was assisted on the play by junior Cory Pinheiro.
That good feeling wouldn't last long, however, as URI would fail to score again. Penn State owned the second and third periods, scoring two goals in each. Rhode Island asked Ray Martin to take a turn between the pipes and he responded by stopping 40 of 44 shots. It wasn't enough, however, as Penn State had a stellar showing from its backup goalie, Edward Hume, who stopped all but one of Rhody's 30 shots.
"We had a tough weekend," said URI senior James Gaffney. "Penn State is a very good team. However, they are not a 5-1 and 4-1 better team than us. The good thing is we play them again down at their place."
The series was defined by solid goaltending from Penn State and the inability to capitalize for Rhode Island.
"It was a well-fought series between two of the best teams in the ACHA and luckily we caught a few breaks and were able to pull through," Hume said. "For a while it could've gone either way and we're happy we were able to get out of URI with two wins." Throughout the series, the Rams found themselves out-skated and out of position against a bigger and stronger Penn State squad. Following the series, Rhode Island players were careful not to read too much into a mid-November contest.
"We have a lot of work to do as a team and that's why they don't crown champions in November," Stephen Gaffney said.
After starting the season with 11 consecutive victories, Rhody has now lost four games in a row. URI still holds onto the No. 2 ranking in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, but that standing figures to drop when the new rankings are released on Friday. Coming up for the Rams is a two-game series on Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia against Drexel University (6-6-1).