With the McCann Ice Arena a bit quieter than usual with students leaving Poughkeepsie for fall break, Marist club hockey still brought their A-game as junior forward Sean Bruno poured in four goals in a 6-1 rout of the Drexel Dragons.
Coming off another weekend split that saw Marist (6-4) take down Siena but fall short to Connecticut College the day after, Marist headed back home to take on Drexel’s Division II team. In the 6-1 win, Marist dominated almost all facets of the game and played one of their most complete games of the year.
From the first puck drop, it was all Marist. They made it tough for the Dragons to get anything started or get any good looks on the net, blocking shots and playing tight defense in their zone. Bruno, an assistant captain for Marist, got the scoring started early in the first period, and the Red Foxes never looked back from there, scoring four more goals in the period.
Almost all of the early goals came as Marist capitalized on mistakes made by Drexel. Bruno intercepted a bad pass from Drexel’s Will Micholas and tacked on another goal; he then intercepted another errant pass and scored to earn his third goal of the match before Drexel even had a chance to respond.
“My teammates were finding me open, and I was able to get open and put the puck on net and it was just bouncing our way tonight,” said Bruno.
Junior defenseman Richard Williams and junior forward Chris Citera both notched goals of their own to put the game even further out of reach. Drexel shows signs of life in the second and third periods by getting a bit more physical and taking advantage of a few Marist mistakes, and they added a powerplay goal, but it was far too little too late. Bruno then added a fourth goal to his ledger late to put the icing on the cake for a Marist victory.
“It started with making the right plays and right passes, passes on tape, and hitting the net,” said Marist head coach Anthony LoBianco. “We have a hard time sometimes going high and wide, but today we hit [the net] in the first period and the score showed it.”
Aside from powering Marist’s dominant first period, Bruno also helped cause Drexel turnovers and drew multiple penalties from the opponent. He was the driving force for most of the game and was always in the best position for his teammates to set him up.
“Our captains [Christian Wilde and Bruno], they’re the heart [of this team],” said LoBianco. “So when they’re going, it’s good to watch and fun to have, and our team does well.”
The Red Foxes also did a great job staying out of the box. Penalties have been a problem for Marist most of the season, as they’ve been one of the most penalized teams in their division, racking up a high number of penalties in almost every game. In this match, Marist cut down on their penalties, only taking three for the whole match, allowing the team to run their game more smoothly and not have to worry so much about playing a man down.
“Anytime we stay out of the box and play at even strength, our team is deadly,” said LoBianco.
On Saturday, Marist heads back on the road to Lawrenceville, NJ to take on Rider at 8 p.m. They will seek to get out to another quick start against a Rider side hosting their 2024 “Pink the Rink” match in honor of breast cancer awareness.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
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