Bear Lax Trax Fax by John Nichols 3.8.2021

BEARS LAX TRAX 030921

D-I

Congratulations to Griffin Brown for his 100th career goal and to Nate Buller of Penn State for earning his first appearance in the Nittany Lions’ starting lineup plus an awesome goal!

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

BEARS VS BEARS

MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) 18

JOHNS HOPKINS (Joey Epstein) 10

Normally this contest between long-term rivals has been held later in the Spring as the regular season winds down.  With the Big Ten playing a condensed, intraconference schedule this year, these teams’ first meeting of 2021 was pushed ahead on the calendar. 

The Terps and Blue Jays traded leads in the first half, each change of lead driven by short, three goal runs.  Joey Epstein’s third goal of the day capped the Jays’ run that staked them a 7-5 lead late in the second period.  Maryland would score twice more to set a tie at the half.  That pair of scores were the first of an eleven-goal run by Maryland that lasted through the third period and into the fourth.  Griffin got his second goal of the season in the middle of that big run when the Jays had two men in the penalty box. It was Griffin’s 100th goal.

Justin had a solid outing on faceoffs, winning 17 of 29 and gathering up ten ground balls.  John Geppert scooped up two ground balls and Matt Kopp played as well.

MARYLAND (Justin Shockey, John Geppert, Matt Kopp, Griffin Brown) 13

PENN STATE (Nate Buller) 7

The Terps and Nittany Lions met on ESPN on a cold night in Happy Valley. After the visitors had a three-goal run, PSU needed a goal and Nate Buller grabbed a ground ball in front of the Maryland goal crease and as he fell to the ground, he shot a behind-the-back goal (oh by the way, #20 John Geppert, observed the goal of his former Bear teammate). That started a run for the home team, but the #3 Terps then had runs of 6 and 4 goals. John had a GB, but  it was a bad day at the X for Justin.

BUCKNELL (Colin O’Brien, Drew Wellington) 15

CLEVELAND STATE (Justin Conner) 9

After having to cancel their first two games due to COVID issues on campus, Bucknell was looking forward to finally being able to play their season opener against Navy.  Unfortunately, Navy had their own COVID issues and had to postpone.  Cleveland State to the rescue with an open date on Sunday!

Bucknell slowly built out a four-goal lead early in the third quarter by putting together small clutches of scores while not allowing the Vikings any opportunities to develop any sort of offensive momentum.  The Bison then tallied six straight goals, taking a ten-goal lead midway through the final period.  Cleveland State closed out the game with a string of four goals, but could get no closer.

Back this year for the Bison, Drew Wellington had one caused turnover and one ground ball.  Colin also saw playing time for the Bison.

OTHER GAMES

ARMY (Drennan Greene) 12

Boston U. 10

Solid play in goal by the Black Knights’ goalie help Army get out to a 5-0 by the end of the first quarter.  BU responded by slowly clawing their way back into the game.  The Terriers won each of the next three quarters by one goal and on three occasions pulled within one goal of Army.  Each time, Army stuffed in a goal to halt BU’s comeback.  Army’s finally tally came with a couple of ticks over a minute left in regulation.  The Terriers won the final faceoff but failed on their one shot attempt before the final buzzer sounded.

DENVER (Ryan Giles) 20

St. John’s 6

St. John’s got the game’s first score, but the Pioneers got the next twelve.  The Red Storm stopped that big run with a pair of scores late in the second period, but Denver closed out the first half with back-to-back goals, the last coming with just ten seconds left on the clock.  Denver added three more unanswered goals to start the third quarter, stretching their lead to 17-3 with six minutes left in third.  The teams traded single scores over the balance of regulation.

LOYOLA (Cam James) 6

Lehigh 10

Lehigh dominated the Greyhounds on faceoffs, ground balls, saves, and shots and needed every one of those advantages to get the win.  When Loyola was able to get a possession and a shot, far more often than not, the ball ended up in the crosse of the Lehigh goalie who stopped nearly ¾’s of the shots directed at him.  Cam saw playing time for Loyola.

Cam got some playing time in this game.

MICHIGAN (Zach Johnson) 12

Rutgers 22

The goalie stats in this contest were mirror images of each other: Both teams put 32 shots on goal with Rutgers’ keeper stopping 20 while just ten ended up in the Michigan keepers’ sticks.  Through the first quarter and into the early moments of the second, Michigan stayed close to Rutgers, but after that Rutgers strung together several runs of scores that stretched out their lead.  During that time, Michigan could only muster single scores to stop the bleeding, but was not able to string together their own runs to rally back.  Over the las twenty minutes of the game, the teams traded single goals, the Rutgers lead neither shrunken nor expanded.

PENN STATE (Nate Buller) 15

Ohio State 13

Nate got his first start at midfield for the Nittany Lions against Ohio State.  Penn State got the first three goals of the game to get a lead that held up until the Buckeye’s run of three that was wrapped around halftime.  Penn State responded by reeling off four unanswered goals in four minutes to get the lead back.  Although Ohio State was able to pull within one of Penn State twice over the rest of the game, the Nittany Lions maintained sufficient distance between the two teams to get the win.

Nate took two shots in the game.

ST. JOSEPH’S (Thomas Halm) postponed

Wagner

TOWSON (Mo Sillah) 10

Drexel 12

Though occasionally tied, Towson never fell behind over the first three quarters of the game.  But while the Tigers were generally able to maintain a lead, they had trouble building that lead.  Consequently, when Drexel got the first three goals of the final period, the scoreboard flipped in their favor.  Towson’s lone score of the fourth quarter tied the game up again, but over the balance of regulation only Drexel could find the back of the goal.

Mo Sillah had a ground ball and a caused turnover for Towson.

VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride) 12

High Point 11

High Point gave UVA a taste of their own medicine, disrupting UVA’s clearing game, limiting the ‘Hoos to a mere 69% clearing rate.  That level of disruption kept the game close.  Early on it looked like the game would be a runaway for UVA as they took a 6-1 lead at the end of the first quarter but by the midway point of the second quarter High Point had the game tied up at six.  UVA responded with a run of three straight to get back in the lead for good.  This game was a great example of playing to the last whistle—on three occasions the teams scored goals with three seconds or less on the clock.

Ryan saw playing time in the game.

VIRGINIA (Ryan Pride) 20

Air Force 4

Air Force got but one goal in each quarter while Virginia scored early and often.  Virginia’s clearing game was still a bit rough around the edges, but UVA dominated at the faceoff dot and on ground balls, allowing the ‘Hoos to turn possessions into goals. 

Ryan had a pair of ground balls for Virginia.

D-I POLLS

No real movement at the top but a bit of churning below.

THIS COMING WEEK

Penn State (Nate Buller) and Johns Hopkins (Joey Epstein) meet in our lone Bears vs. Bears contest.

D-III

GAMES

Salisbury (Jace Menendez) 8

Lynchburg 10

Salisbury tunes up for the season with some tough non-conference opponents but rarely do they lose these games.  Salisbury took an early 4-1 lead and Lynchburg slowly work down that lead until their three-goal run in the middle of the third quarter gave them their first lead.  Salisbury tied the game up twice after that, but a pair of fourth quarter goals put Lynchburg in the lead for good.

Colorado College (Max Becker) 22

Adams State 8

The Tigers’ scoring onslaught across the end of the first quarter and well into the second determined the outcome.  Down 3-2 late in the first quarter, Colorado College went on a tear, scoring eleven straight times in just fifteen minutes of game time.  Two smaller runs by the Tigers were interrupted by single scores for Adams State.  By the time Adams State could put a set of scores together it was late in the fourth quarter and the game was long out of reach.

Max Becker had two ground balls for Colorado College and Jack Murdock put two of his three shots on goal.

D-III POLLS

D-III Schedule Update

The NESCAC (Tufts: Kyle Amitay, Garret Kurtz and Colby: Miles Tonkel) and Centennial Conference (Gettysburg: Mitch Laughlin, Billy Banfield and Dickinson: Gavin Seasholes) have settled on sets of rules and standards that will allow their respective member schools to play this year.  Gettysburg has announced a six-game schedule but the other schedules are still pending.

THIS COMING WEEK

Washington and Lee (Will Bou) kicks off their 2021 season against Mary Washington.