SUNY Stony Brook Takes DII Championship
Upsets Neumann in OT
ECRHA March 6th, 2007 at 2:22AM March 6th, 2007 6:22AM
With a regular season record of 11-3-2, the Stony Brook Seawolves were able to lock-up the Northern Conference and seed #2 in Division II. Coming into the weekend, the Seawolves were placed in a pool with local rivals Hofstra University (#5 seed), Cornell University (#8 seed), and Temple University (#11 seed). After a slow start against Temple (trailing 3-0), Stony Brook came to life and routed the Owls 9-4. Next up was Cornell, who the Seawolves were able to handle with a 9-3 victory. With Hofstra winning their first two pool games as well, the stage was set for the third showdown of the season, the stakes being a higher seed in the quarterfinals. As usual, the Long Island rivals played a very scrappy, defensive game. With the boys from Brook being down 2-1 late in the third, they managed to score two key goals just minutes apart to defeat the Pride by a final score of 3-2.
Going 3-0 in pool play gave Stony Brook the #2 seed once again, this time in quarterfinal play. They faced the Shippensburg Raiders, who had defeated Vermont to claim the #7 seed with a 1-2 record in pool play. In a penalty-ridden game in which the Seawolves were in the box for a majority of the time, they managed to keep the lead on Shippensburg and ride out the penalty storm with a 6-5 win. What would later prove to an underrated fact, the Seawolves were able to keep Shippensburg off of the scoreboard in 4 on 4 play.
With Shipp defeated it was on to the final four: Stony Brook vs. West Chester and Hofstra vs. Nuemann. West Chester came into the game at the #3 seed, defeating Albany soundly in the quarterfinals and going into the semi-final match-up against Brook undefeated in the playoffs. In a very even match-up, both teams would see momentum swings. Stony Brook jumped up on West Chester with a 3-0 lead, only to see the Rams claw their way back to take the lead at 4-3. The Seawolves would have to find a way to win, and they did, coming from behind to defeat the West Chester Rams 5-4.
Thus, the showdown that everyone was waiting for was set: National Champions Neumann College, riding an undefeated season, against the Stony Brook Seawolves. Most of the first period would see both teams getting a feel for each other, with a lot of dump and chase play. The tide would swing when both teams would take penalties to drop the play down to 3 on 3. In the last minutes of the first period and the start of the second period, Neumann would score 5 goals to take a 5-0 lead on the Seawolves, seemingly sealing the game early on. However, like it was all weekend, the Seawolves would find a way to win. Scoring late in the second period and four times in the third, the Seawolves would dominate the play and force the game into overtime. Stony Brook wouldn't take long to win their first ECRHA championship, scoring less than two minutes into OT and give Neumann their first loss in nearly two years. Stony Brook was able to to deny Neumann any 4 on 4 goals, holding the Knights to just a few shots in the second and third period.
Now that the Regionals are wrapped up, Stony Brook has gained the #1 seed from the region and an automatic bid to the 2007 Collegiate Roller Hockey National Championships in St. Peters, Missouri, where they will take their 12 game winning streak into battle against the best teams in the country.
Let's Go Brook!!!!