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ECRHA

Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association

Finished from Dracut

by Vincent Matula

ECRHA  February 10th, 2020 at 6:54AM  February 10th, 2020 12:55PM

This past weekend, games in Dracut, MA came to a close. A total of 15 different clubs took part in the event as we continue to move closer towards the Regional Playoffs.

 

Farmingdale State’s Division 1 club was without goaltender Matthew Muccio-Shrimpe for the weekend, but that did not stop them from winning each of their three games. Two of their three victories were by three goals over Stony Brook and UMass along with a running clock shutout over Northeastern. Four different players recorded five or more total points in those three games, including Jordan Mula and Joey DiMartino who each recorded five goals and at least one game winner. The Rams have not lost a game in regulation since their opening regular season weekend in Grove City, PA.

 

The University of Massachusetts came into Dracut riding a four game winning streak along with seven straight victories over Division 2 opponents. UMass opened their weekend by defeating Northeastern for the second time this season and ended it with a 7-1 win over Penn State. The only loss that the club endured was against Farmingdale where both clubs were tied in the third period. Coming off his Rookie of the Year campaign, Trevor Shea continues to impress as he now leads D2 with 33 goals and is second with 50 points. In his team's ten wins this season, Shea has earned the first star in every game except one while recording at least three points in each of those ten games. With a 10-3 record and 20 points through 13 games, the Minutemen are first place in D2 and maintain the best goal differential heading into all-star weekend.

 

Only two games were on the schedule for Stony Brook University's trip to Dracut. The Seawolves fell 4-1 to Farmingdale, but bounced back with a 6-2 victory over Penn State. It’s only four games, but they're now undefetaed against D2 opponents in the spring semester. Stony Brook has been used to performing well in the spring semester for a while now. Dating back to the spring semester of 2015, Stony Brook’s primary team is 37-3 in regular season games against D2 clubs. Judging by this, it’s safe to say that Stony Brook University plays like a different team in the spring semester. They’ve jumped into fifth place as all-star weekend will be their final task before Regionals.

 

In their first two games of the weekend, the Huskies of Northeastern dropped both to Farmingdale and UMass. Two of Northeastern’s five losses this season have come at the hands of UMass. The Huskies managed to salvage their home weekend on Sunday with a 5-2 win against Penn State that featured Thomas Keith and Jason Stitt tallying three points each. Northeastern moves to third place and now have the most goals for (84) going into Old Bethpage, NY. The remaining team from D2 this past weekend was Penn State after losses came against Stony Brook, UMass and Northeastern. Their offense continues to struggle as every team above them in the standings is averaging over four goals per game while the Nittany Lions are averaging just over three. They will look to break their seven game regular season losing streak during all-star weekend.

 

We have a new first place team in Division 3 and it’s Syracuse University. They took down Vermont, Boston and Endicott en route to a weekend sweep along with their tenth victory of the season. It was a big weekend for Ethan Clearfield as the transfer forward put together 12 points (four goals and eight assists) during the weekend and now leads his team in points (34). Clearfield joins teammates Marc Orlin and Anthony Bellman with at least ten goals and 15 assists this season. Since the Orange have just one regulation loss this season, they could clinch the top seed at Regionals with a perfect weekend in Old Bethpage, NY.

 

Endicott began their weekend with consecutive 6-1 wins over Boston and Vermont, but ran into aforementioned Syracuse to give them just their second loss of the season. All but one skater on the Gulls recorded a point during the weekend. Outside of top scorer Matt Kaski, Caeden Dillman and Luke Jorgensen are in the midst of career seasons as both players have surpassed their point totals from last season. On the other side of the puck, goalie Stephen Richetelli is spotting a .881 save percentage which is the best in D3 and also happens to be the same exact percentage he recorded last season. Richetelli also has the second most saves (236) and second best goals against average (2.67). Endicott’s 10-2 record through 12 games is good for second place with one final regular season weekend to go.

 

Boston and Vermont began their respective weekends with losses to Syracuse and Endicott. In a match between the two teams on Sunday, it was the Terriers of Boston University who came out on top with a 6-2 win. This victory moves Boston to the 12th and final playoff spot in the standings while the Catamounts of Vermont continue to search for their first win of the regular season. Both clubs will finish their regular season in Old Bethpage, NY later this month.

 

There was no messing around from Division 4 Farmingdale Green on Saturday as the Rams went 3-0 and outscored their opponents 27-6. They began the day with a running clock defeat of Stony Brook and then grabbed back-to-back six goal wins over Northeastern and Oswego. To show how dominant they were this weekend, each of Farmingdale’s nine skaters had at least one multi-point game. Joining the Green Rams in an undefeated weekend was UMass as the Minutemen’s secondary club took home their first two wins of the season. Three teams (including them) are now tied with six points going with Old Bethpage left to play.

 

Both Northeastern and Stony Brook went 1-3 on the weekend with their lone wins coming against Farmingdale Black. Since joining the team this semester, Northeastern’s Page Lootsma has taken over as the team's leading scorer. As for Farmingdale Black, they were able to shutout Northeastern in the morning, but lost 5-3 in a rematch later that day. With this weekend in the books, leading point scorers Joe Dwyer and Ryan Marcis have each established a new season high in points. A 2-2 weekend by Oswego State keeps the Lakers in third place and away from the four teams below that are within a point from each other. In regular season games that they have scored at least four goals, Oswego is 5-1 while rookie Francesco Distefano has three hat tricks in those wins. Distefano leads his team in all three major scoring categories as well as game winning goals while also sitting second place in D4 with 20 goals.

 

The next ECRHA event will take place from February 15th-16th in North Arlington, NJ.

 

 

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