Men's hockey sweeps Colonials at home, recognizes seniors

02/05/09 - The University of Rhode Island men's hockey team escaped two close defeats this weekend with a pair of victories, 4-3 and 3-2 respectively, against Robert Morris University.Senior Matt Wodecki, sophomore Bobby Gauthier and freshman Richie Falasca led the team in scoring over the weekend with two points each.

Wodecki got the Rams on the scoreboard with his power play goal in the first period, assisted by junior defenseman EJ Astarita and Gauthier. This was the only goal of the period, despite each team having three power play chances.

The Colonials began the second period on the power play, and they capitalized with a goal by John Kalichuk to even the score, 1-1.

Sophomore forward Kyle Krannich responded with a power play goal of his own to regain the lead for the Rams. He was set up by sophomore goalie Joe Spagnoli and junior forward Ben Herring on the play.

Freshman Jeff Lace's roughing penalty, 8:11 into the second period, set up a game-tying power play goal by RMU forward Ryan King.

Three minutes after King's goal, URI's Falasca cradled the puck through the defense and put it past RMU goalie Robbie Fallick for an unassisted goal, making the score 3-1 in Rhody's favor.

URI padded its lead late in the third period with a power play goal by freshman Dan Lassik. The score gave URI a two-goal advantage, which turned out to be just enough.

RMU's King scored his second goal of the game to keep things close, but URI was able to close the game out defensively, securing the 4-3 victory.

"It was good to get an early lead and play with it," freshman defenseman Kyle Letourneau said.

Spagnoli had 36 saves for the Rams in the game.

The latter game of the weekend started out slow, with neither team producing much offense. Senior Jon Biliouris took advantage of a Robert Morris power play, getting the Rams out ahead late in the first period.

Wodecki scored in traffic to send the Rams into the locker room with the "most dangerous lead in hockey," at 2-0.

The Rams kept the momentum in their favor by playing stellar defense, stumping the Colonials on all five power play occasions thus far.

Senior Mike Bragger added to URI's lead with a power play goal, giving the Rams a comfortable 3-0 lead.

"It was senior night," Letourneau said. "So having three seniors score goals for us was a major boost."

With five minutes left in the second period, a small fight broke loose in the corner of the ice, eventually sending two Rams to the penalty box.

The Colonials, skating with a 4-on-3 advantage, finally broke the shutout with a rebound goal by John Kalichuk. The period came to a close with URI leading, 3-1.

URI came out in the third period playing intense defensive hockey, protecting its two-goal lead. RMU was relentless, taking shot after shot at senior goalie Ray Martin, who finished the day with 31 saves.

The Colonials kept things interesting when they scored with four minutes to play on Kalichuck's second goal of the night.

The Rams were able to hold onto their 3-2 lead and earn the weekend sweep of the Colonials.

"We earned a couple of good wins," Letourneau said. "They were ranked ninth in the country, so hopefully the sweep will improve our rank."

The Rams continue this weekend with a pair of games at the United States Naval Academy.

"They are a really good team with a great work ethic," Letourneau said. "We are going to need to put forth a great effort to beat them.