Men's hockey falls Friday, wins Saturday

11/07/08 - Friday night at the Boss Arena, the University of Delaware Blue Hens had the University of Rhode Island Rams on lockdown, 8-1.Within the first 10 minutes of play, the Blue Hens were up 2-0. Their first goal came with a few seconds left on a Delaware power-play when Rocky Romanella got the puck from Dave Lombardi and scored at 4:21 in the game.

Three minutes later, Rhode Island goalie Ray Martin deflected a shot by Delaware's Mike Gardner, but was picked up by Joe Baumgartner on the deflection and scored a wrister.

Delaware was aggressive first period, out-shooting the Rams 17-6.

The second period saw even more from the Blue Hens bust the game wide open. Within the first minute of the period, on a three on five Delaware power-play, Kevin Miller scored with the assist going to Gardner.

The Blue Hens weren't done, and at 3:59 in the period, Andre Menard made it 4-0 when he scored off a pass from Brandon Weiner. Another Delaware goal coming from Lombardi at 11:20 made the game almost seem out of reach for the Rams.

Thirteen minutes into the period, the Rams started to fight back. Their first goal of the game came off the stick of Kyle Krannich who got the puck from Cory Manley.

Delaware went on the offensive again, scoring two more times in the second period. Its sixth goal of the game came no more than a minute after Rhode Island's goal. At 13:49, Casey Giblin scored off a pass from Menard.

With less than a minute left in the period, the Blue Hens scored once more, when Thomas Keough scored off a pass from Aleks Volkov. The second period ended with the Blue Hens up 7-1, out shooting the Rams 23-9 in the period.

The final period of play saw the Rams slow down Delaware's attack, but with too little time left in the game. The Blue Hens out-shot the Rams once again 16-4 in the period, overall 51-19.

Delaware scored once in the third period, when Giblin got the puck off a rebound and scored Delaware's eighth and final goal of the game.

After the game, URI coach Joe Augustine said that "it looked like Delaware had 10 guys out there sometimes to our five."

Delaware was all over the ice Friday night, and minor mistakes the Rams made, Delaware capitalized on.

Augustine also said, "you can't win if you're out-shot 53-19."

When asked what his strategy would be for Saturday's game, Augustine said, "there will be a much different lineup, but we still need to play our game."

On Saturday the Rams stepped up against an offensively strong Delaware team, winning 5-4 in overtime.

The Rams scored first in the beginning period. Jeff Lace scored on a Rhode Island power-play to give the Rams their first lead of the weekend. This was Lace's first goal of the season, and it came at 5:52 in the game.

Rhody scored once again in the first period during another Rhode Island power-play. Their second goal came from Manley off the assist of Mike O'Brien and Krannich.

Delaware came marching back and scored with only a few minutes left in the first period. Their goal came from Gardner once again, with the assist coming from Weiner during a Delaware power-play.

The Rams outshot the Blue Hens 19-7 in the first period. The score after the first period had URI winning 2-1.

The second period was all about the Blue Hens. They scored three goals in the period and shut out the Rams. Their three goals of the period came from Weiner, Baumgartner and Keough. Weiner and Baumgartner's goals came on Delaware power-plays, and at the end of the second period, they were up 4-2.

Delaware outshot the Rams in the second period 15-6, and took the lead as a result. In the final period of regulation, the Rams blanked Delaware.

Twenty seconds into the third period, Krannich scored his fourth goal of the season, bringing Delaware's lead to 1. The two teams seemed even the entire period, but one more goal by Rhode Island at 13:28 tied the game. The game-tying goal came from Manley assisted by Krannich.

Manley wasn't quite done. With just more than one minute played in the first overtime, he scored the game-winning goal off another Krannich assist. The Rams won 5-4, and split the weekend series with Delaware. The Rams will be home next weekend, playing Friday, Nov. 14.