HERSHEY, Pa. — The Elmira College men’s ice hockey team made a statement tonight by scoring a season-high eight goals in an 8-3 rout of Lebanon Valley College in United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) action. Elmira produced four consecutive goals twice during Saturday night’s contest, which paved the way for EC to secure its fifth UCHC win and claim sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
EC prevailed by five goals and did so without taking more shots than the opposition, as Lebanon Valley held a 32-27 lead in shots on goal. In addition to winning the faceoff battle, 39-34, the Soaring Eagles went 2-for-4 on the power play. The Flying Dutchmen went 1-for-3 with the extra skater.
Brett Johnson gave the Flying Dutchmen a 1-0 lead just 3:58 into the first period, but a pair of goals by Nick Ford ’20 and Anthony Parrucci ’20 put the Purple and Gold on top, 2-1, heading into the first intermission. Ford scored on the power play at 8:23 on assists from Matthew Cuce ’20 and Ryan Blais ’21, while Parrucci deposited a goal at 12:47. Ross Bartlett was credited with an assist on the Parrucci tally.
The Soaring Eagles kept the momentum going in the second stanza with back-to-back goals in a 1:31 span. Rookie Marty Kapoian ’22 scored an unassisted goal just 1:48 into the period, which was followed by another power-play goal, this one by Blais at 3:19 on assists from Ford and Cuce.
Lebanon Valley ended EC’s run of four consecutive goals with a power-play tally at 15:47, but Kapoian answered for the Purple and Gold just 14 seconds later to put Elmira on top, 5-2. However, the action-packed period did not stop there, as first-year defenseman Nick Grinvalds ’22 produced his first career goal at 17:11 to hand the Soaring Eagles a four-goal lead, 6-2. Spencer MacLean ’20, Blake O’Neill ’19, Harry Kramer ’20 and Bartlett picked up assists on the two Elmira goals.
EC saw its four-goal lead balloon to six in the third period behind tallies from MacLean and Aleksi Ojala ’21 at 4:04 and 13:35, respectively. MacLean’s goal was set up by Kapoian, who registered his third point of the night, and Kramer, who collected his second helper in as many goals. Ojala’s goal was scored unassisted and put the Purple and Gold ahead, 8-2.
Austin Zimmerman scored for the Flying Dutchmen at 16:59, a mere consolation goal, as the Soaring Eagles went on to claim a crucial 8-3 UCHC road victory. EC’s starting goaltender, Jake Sabourin ’21, made 12 saves in the third period to bring his total to 29 stops.
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Aaron Saul ’98 reflects on tonight’s win…
“Tonight was a great team win with seven different players scoring. We wanted to stay on top of the conference, so the win was a big one tonight. We played a systems-strong game, which led to a number of scoring chances that we capitalized on.”
News and Notes
With the win, Elmira moved into sole possession of first place in the UCHC.
Elmira’s league record improved to 5-2-0.
The eight goals are the most EC has scored in a game since an 8-6 win over LVC on November 5, 2016.
A total of 11 EC skaters produced at least one point this evening.
Six Elmira skaters logged two-or-more points in tonight’s win.
Kapoian scored a career-high three points on two goals and one assist.
Cuce and Kramer each finished with two assists.
Ford, MacLean and Blais finished with one goal and one assist.
O’Neill, MacLean and Grinvalds each logged their first points of the season.
Grinvalds scored his first career goal.
Ford and Blais scored power-play goals.
Blais was credited with tonight’s game-winning goal.
Sabourin made 29 saves to improve to 3-2-0 on the year.
Up Next
The Purple and Gold return to action next Friday, December 7, when they travel to face Chatham University in UCHC action at 7:10 p.m. Elmira will conclude the first half of the season the following evening with a 3:00 p.m. showdown on the road against Stevenson University.
