In front of a sellout crowd of 2,652 at Tate Rink, senior Zak Zaremba netted two goals to help the Army hockey team earn a 3-3 tie on Tuesday night against the Russian Red Stars.
The Black Knights saw Joe Shecter score in the third period to tie the game at 2-2, while Joe Kozlak added two assists in the deadlock. Goaltender Parker Gagahen got the start and made 16 saves. Cole Bruns relieved the netminder midway through the second period and made eight stops with three in overtime.
The Red Stars were led by Maksim Nikolaev with a pair of goals and an assist, including the game-tying goal in the third period. Ivan Larichev also scored for the visitors and Ildar Shiksatdarov posted two helpers in the tie. Sergei Korobov played all 60 minutes for the Russian team and made 29 saves with 10 in the first and third periods.
The Red Stars took a 2-0 lead in the first period, scoring both goals under five minutes apart. Nikolaev put the Russians on top with 8:32 left in the opening frame after great passing with Shiksatdarov and Alexander Mokshoantsev. The lead increased with Larichev getting behind the defense and he chipped a backhander over the left pad of Gahagen.
Army did have four power play chances in the first period, but couldn’t find the net. The Red Stars owned an 11-10 advantage in shots in the opening stanza.
The Black Knights cut the lead in half in the second period with Zaremba scoring on the power play. Army broke out of its own zone with Maurice Alvarez finding Kozlak in stride in the neutral zone. Kozlak then hit Zaremba to his right at the blueline. Zaremba snuck behind the defense and fired a wrist shot that the Red Stars netminder got a piece of, but the puck trickled past the goal line to make it 2-1 with 5:08 left in the middle frame.
In the third period, the momentum stayed with the Black Knights as they gained their first lead of the game with 14 minutes left. Shecter knotted the game at 2-2 with assists to Tyler Pham and C.J. Reuschlein. He took the puck form just above the left circle and skated to the slot and fired the puck past Korobov.
Zaremba netted his second of the night as the Black Knights scored on a delayed penalty. Army had an odd-man rush with the extra attacker and Kozlak dropped the puck to Zaremba, who was wide open at the right circle. He slipped a wrister past Korobov to five the Black Knights their first lead at 3-2 with 14 minutes remaining in the game.
The Red Stars evened it up with 7:12 remaining in the contest with Nikoleav scoring his second of the night. He put a wrister through traffic and it got between the pads of Bruns with Shiksatdarov and Larichev getting the assists.
The Black Knights are back at Tate Rink on Friday night to take on American International for the beginning of a home-and-home series this weekend. Tickets are still available for the 7:05 p.m. faceoff.
Ice Shavings: This was the second meeting between Army and the Russian Red Stars … the junior all-star team was called Team Russia back in 2010 when they came to West Point … the Red Stars have already played Harvard and Yale and lost both contests … next up for them is Babson tomorrow night … tonight’s game was one of two exhibition games for the Black Knights this season as Army plays host to the Royal Military College on Jan. 24 … Army has played 12 of its 18 home games in 2014 … Army dressed 22 skaters in tonight’s game due to exhibition game rules, teams are allowed to dress more than the normal 21 skaters … the teams did a shootout, that didn’t count, in front of the sold out crowd of 2,652 and the Red Stars won the shootout on a goal from Artem Sevankaev.
