Bear Lax Trax Fax by John Nichols

BLTF 031922

A big week of Bears versus Bears games—three in Division I, three in Division III. 

Nicholas Kopp of Amherst has already taken 100 faceoffs in his freshman season and wins NESCAC POW

Nonconference play gives way to conference games as the race towards Memorial Day picks up.

D-I

BEARS vs BEARS

BUCKNELL (Drew Wellington) 12

PENN STATE (Nate Buller) 11

Quick scores in close succession gave the Bison an early two goal lead, but three quickly successive scores put Penn State up by one.  Over the rest of the first half, the game was either tied or one team had a one-goal lead.  Bucknell broke that trend with a quick pair of goals in the last minute of the first half to go up by two.  Penn State opened the second half scoring, but Bucknell answered back just seven seconds later to maintain their two-goal lead then the Bison put two more in the cage to build their largest lead of the game, 11-7, early in the fourth quarter.  Penn State staged a late comeback with a run of three goals in the game’s final minutes.  Penn State won the final faceoff of the game with just 31 seconds left on the clock.  Their lone shot went wide of the goal.

Drew had a big day for Bucknell with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers.

LOYOLA (Cam James) 13

BUCKNELL (Drew Wellington) 9

Loyola closed out the first half scoring with a five-goal run then got the first score the second half to take a three-goal lead.  The Greyhounds then responded with a run of six in a row to turn their three-goal deficit into a three-goal lead.  Bucknell’s goal that stopped that run trimmed the ‘Hounds lead to two with eleven minutes left in the game.  That is as close as the Bison would get as Loyola scored twice more before the end of regulation while shutting out Bucknell’s offense.

Drew had one ground ball for Bucknell.

NAVY (JT Thomas) 11

JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) 10

This storied rivalry has been on ice since the teams last played in 2017.  The teams had met every year since 1950 until then and had a total head-to-head record of 90 contests with outcomes heavily favoring the Blue Jays.

Hopkins took an early two-goal lead with a run of three straight scores in the middle of the first period.  Navy tied the game up with a pair of scores only to see the Jays do the same to go back up by two at the half.  The second half saw Navy again score back-to-back goals only to have Hopkins return the favor, again.  The Midshipmen broke that trend with three consecutive scores to get their first lead since the early minutes of the game.  Joey scored the first of two Hopkins goals that put the Jays back up by one.  Navy tied the game up at nine all, but Joey again scored to give the lead back to the Jays.  However, that was it for the Jays as Navy clinched the game by scoring twice in the game’s final five minutes.  Johns Hopkins had a man-up advantage in the closing minutes of the game, but Navy saved the Jays’ lone shot on goal.

Joey had two goals and two assists, all coming in the second half and each either tying the game up or staking the Jays to a lead.  For the full game, Joey took six shots, four on-goal and got to two ground balls.

OTHER GAMES

DARTMOUTH (Brendan Gallagher, Brett Gallagher) 17

St. John’s 10

Big Green scored three in a row to start the game and put in four in a row to start the second quarter.  That, plus a goal here and there, staked Dartmouth to a 10-4 lead at the half.  Scoring was more even in the second half, 7-6 in favor of Dartmouth.  While faceoffs and ground balls were only slightly in favor of Dartmouth, Big Green managed nearly twice as many shots and shots on goal, benefitting from St. John’s committing nearly twice as many turnovers.

Brett saw playing time in the game.

DENVER (Ryan Giles) 14

Ohio State 12

Ohio State built an early lead with a couple of iterations of scoring twice while only giving up one.  The Pioneers broke that pattern in the second quarter with a four-goal run to tie the game up.  The Buckeyes got the lead back with a single score before the half, but Denver opened up the scoring for the second half to go up by one.   Scoring in the second half continued to be a back-and-forth affair, but in this half the Pioneers had the slight advantage.  By the end of the third quarter, the teams had combined for eleven goals and Denver was now up by two.  The fourth quarter saw a sharp decline in the pace of scoring as each team scored but once in the final period.

Ryan got but one shot on the day, but it got by the goalie and was the score that gave Denver their first lead.

HARVARD (Joey Graham) 12

Brown 11

Harvard’s goalie saved the day as his eighteen saves negated Brown’s advantage in faceoffs, shots, and shots on goal.  Brown had multiple opportunities to tie the game up in the closing minutes, but what wasn’t wide or high ended up being saved.

JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) 10

Delaware 12

Delaware pitched a shut out in the first quarter, taking an early 3-0 lead.  The Jays got on the board in the second half, but the Blue Hens successfully countered Hopkins’ scores and their three-goal advantage was intact at the half.  The teams swapped pairs goals to start the second half then Hopkins used a run of three to tie the game up late in the fourth period.  Delaware took the lead back just thirteen seconds later.  The Jays tied the game up with a goal that Joey assisted on, but that was the last score for Hopkins.  Delaware would tally two more before the final horn sounded.

Joey had a goal and three assists and put three of his ten shots on goal.

MARYLAND (John Geppert, Matt Kopp) 23

Virginia 12

Maryland got a measure of revenge for last year’s NCAA championship loss to UVA.  The Terrapins dominated possession with a 25-14 advantage on faceoffs and a 40-34 advantage on ground balls.  The possession advantage from those measures translated in to a severe shooting advantage to Maryland such that even if Virginia scored on every shot they put on goal, they still would have lost by two.  Maryland’s defense only allowed one scoring run to UVA—four goals in the middle of the second half—but that run was wedged between two three-goal runs by Maryland.

Both Matt and John played in the game, John scooping up four ground balls and causing two turnovers.

MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson, Graham Hertzberg) 7

Notre Dame 12

Michigan was done in by a pair of Notre Dame runs—five in a row that consumed the second quarter with a sixth added at the start of the third, then five in a row that closed out the third period and started the fourth.  Michigan won twice as many faceoffs, but negated that advantage with weaker ground ball play and blown clears.

Zach had one ground ball for Michigan

PENN (Stephen Bou) 20 OT

Princeton 21

The Tigers opened the game with a run of three goals and added another run of four in the first half to go up by six in the middle of the second period.  Penn had their own three-goal run in the second to halve Princeton’s advantage.  Down by four in the middle of the third quarter, Penn launched netted five straight scores to take their first lead of the game.  Princeton tied the game up with a goal in the final minute of the third period.  The Quakers got the lead back to start the fourth, but Princeton’s run of three put them back on top two minutes later.  Penn knotted things up again with a pair of scores and the teams then traded goals heading into the game’s final minute.  

Penn had a shot to win the game in the final seconds of regulation but that was the last time they would touch the ball.  Princeton won the faceoff to start the overtime period and scored the winner after a protracted possession.

TOWSON (Mo Sillah) 7

Duke 14

The Tigers scored the first three goals of the game and led 4-2 at the half in a surprisingly low scoring game.  Duke fixed that in the second half, netting seven consecutive goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.  Towson could only score singly after that so Duke, aided by a run of three goals in the fourth, got the win.

Mo was back in action for the Tigers.

YALE (Jake Cohen) 12

Cornell 13

Yale scored twice to start the game, Cornell came back with four in a row, then Yale put in three straight.  That would be Yale’s last lead of the day.  Cornell went on an eight-goal scoring streak that covered the last six minutes of the second period, all the third and minute into the fourth.  Yale launched a comeback attempt, scoring five goals in six minutes in the middle of the final period to pull within two at the midpoint of the final quarter.  Cornell scored to take their lead back to three, but Yale answered with a pair of goals to pull within one.  Yale had two scoring chances late but could not tie things up before time expired. 

D-I USILA POLL

1. Maryland

2. Virginia

3. Princeton

4. Cornell

5. Georgetown

6. Rutgers

7. Penn

8. North Carolina

9. Ohio State

10. Duke

11. Yale

12. Notre Dame

13. Boston U.

14. Jacksonville

15. Harvard

16. Army

17. Brown

18. Denver

19. Lehigh

20. Delaware

THIS COMING WEEK

Lots of Bears versus Bears this week:

In Big Ten action, MARYLAND (John Geppert, Matt Kopp) takes on PENN STATE (Nate Buller) and JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) plays MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson, Graham Hertzberg).  In Ivy League competition HARVARD (Joey Graham) faces DARTMOUTH (Brendan Gallagher, Brett Gallagher) and our schedule rounds out with TOWSON (Mo Sillah) facing DENVER (Ryan Giles) in a non-conference match

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D-III

BEARS vs BEARS

GETTYSBURG (Billy Banfield) 10

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou) 6

Gettysburg had a single run of three straight scores and twice went back-to-back, but that was more than enough as the Bullets never allowed the Generals to post consecutive scores.  Both goalies stood tall in the game, each saving over half their opponents’ shots on goal.

Will won two of four faceoffs and had two ground balls.

AMHERST (Nicholas Kopp) 18

GETTYSBURG (Billy Banfield) 14

Amherst exploded for nine second-quarter goals to turn a one-goal deficit at the end of the first quarter in to a four-goal lead at the halftime break.  The Bullets fought back in the second half, pulling within one of the Mammoths in the middle of the final period.  Amherst halted that comeback attempt with a run of three straight scores to push their lead back out to four.  Each team scored once in the game’s last three minutes as Amherst protected their advantage.

Nicholas was big at the dot again, winning 27 of 36 faceoffs, getting possession of 14 ground balls, assisting on a goal, and putting one shot on goal for the Mammoths.

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 17

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 8

After Colorado College scored the game’s first goal, Salisbury put together a five-goal run, going up 5-1 early in the second period.  The Tigers ran off four straight to tie the game up before a late pair of Salisbury goals put the Gulls up by two at the break.  Salisbury owned the second half of the game, wrapping runs of four and three goals around a single score by the Tigers to go up 14-6 early in the final period. 

OTHER GAMES

AMHERST (Nicholas Kopp) 22

Bates 10

The Mammoths ran away with this game with a twelve-goal run in the middle of the game then finished off the game with three straight scores.

Nicholas scored the eleventh of those twelve straight scores and had a solid day at the dot, winning thirteen of twenty-one faceoffs, gathering in ten ground balls, and forcing one turnover

COLBY (Miles Tonkel) 10

Wesleyan 9

Colby knocked Wesleyan from the ranks of the unbeaten with a thrilling come from behind win.  Wesleyan used a four-goal run in the first half to lead by three.  The Mules closed out the scoring in the first half with a pair of goals to cut Wesleyan’s halftime lead to a single goal.  In the second half, the teams traded goals as the Cardinals defended their advantage.  Colby finally put together successive scores, netting the final three goals of the game to go ahead, the winning goal coming with less than a minute left in regulation.

COLORADO COLLEGE (Max Becker) 14

Sewanee 6

Not a Bears versus Bears match, but a Tigers versus Tigers game.  Colorado College scored the first two goals of the game and then backed that up with a run of four straight after Sewanee got their first goal.  Sewanee pulled within three early in the second half, but after that Colorado College did not allow back-to-back scores thereafter while extending their lead with small runs of two or three scores.

GETTYSBURG (Billy Banfield) 11

Christopher Newport 17

Christopher Newport bolted out to an 11-0 lead in the first half, the Bullets first score not coming until there were eleven minutes left in the second period.  Gettysburg never got closer than down nine until they closed out the game with a run of four goals, three of those coming in the last two minutes.

SALISBURY (Jace Menendez) 18

Geneseo 7

Salisbury had runs of four, five, and six goals while not allowing Geneseo successive scores until the last four minutes of the game.  The outcome had long been decided by then.

Jace played in the game.

TUFTS (Garrett Kurtz) 18

Stevens 5

Tufts opened the game with a five-goal run and then pitched an 8-0 shutout in the third period.  The Jumbos suffered some sloppy play but overcame that by shooting often and accurately.

Garrett took one shot in the game.

WASHINGTON & LEE (Will Bou) 15

Randolph-Macon 6

After a closely contested first quarter, the Generals stifled Randolph-Macon’s offense the next three periods.  W&L put in ten goals in the final three periods and allowed just two single scores for the Yellow Jackets.

Will had an excellent day as a FOGO, winning eight of ten draws and getting four ground balls.

D-III USILA POLL

1. RIT

2. Salisbury

3. Tufts

4. Christopher Newport

5. York

6. Saint John Fisher

7. Lynchburg

8. Dickinson

9. Franklin & Marshall

10. Union

11. Amherst

12. Saint Lawrence

13. Cabrini

14. Gettysburg

15t. Rensselaer Poly

15t. Wesleyan

17. Williams

18. Stevenson

19. Bowdoin

20. Denison

THIS COMING WEEK

Lots of games, but no Bears versus Bears this week in D-III.