After returning home for the first time since their thrilling Pink the Rink shootout victory, Marist club hockey took on the Westfield State Owls for their annual Veterans Game. In their last home game until December, the Red Foxes kept the goal horn blaring as they blasted the Owls for nine goals to outlast them in a 15-goal barnburner, defeating the Owls 9-6, their best offensive output this season.
“Everybody can go; we have three really solid lines,” said assistant captain Sean Mercogliano. “It’s a total team effort every night.”
The Red Foxes maintained their perfect record at home, winning all four games they’ve played at the McCann Ice Arena. As they prepare for their next five games on the road, taking care of business at home was important.
“We’ve been saying it a lot this year, it’s ‘defend the den’,” said Head Coach Anthony LoBianco. “We want to make sure it’s a thing that people are proud of us when they come [to] watch.”
Mercogliano, the team’s points leader, lit it up for the Red Foxes with four points: two goals and two assists. He increased his point total to 15 through 10 games, matching his total from last season. He also increased his goals total to nine on the season, another team-leading stat.
“I just have more confidence [this year],” said Mercogliano. “When I got my chance last year, I just took it and ran with it.”
Marist wasted no time getting on the board in the first period, with TJ Fragoso cashing in off a rebound from James Munoz’s drive to the net not even a minute into the contest. The Owls responded after Marist goaltender Gary Mandia couldn’t handle a rebound off a shot from Jason Drake, allowing Jake Hemingway to find the loose puck and put it in the back of the net.
After the Red Foxes took back the lead on the power play from an Alex Armada tip-in goal off a MingWeng Shen shot, Mandia limited the Owls to just that one goal in the period, making up for his shaky rebound control with quality saves. His best came late in the period off an incredible lunging stick save after Hemingway jumped on a loose puck right in the slot off his previous save.
After an action-packed first period, the Red Foxes held onto a one-goal lead.
The first period was the most tame of the three in this game. The second period took off right away, as the Owls took a page out of Marist’s playbook to start, scoring 50 seconds in off a slapshot from Beck Avery-Dyjach on the power play. The Red Foxes got the lead back just under four minutes later, converting on a power play of their own after Michael Russo buried a loose puck in front of Christian Martirano’s shot. Russo’s goal kicked off an eventful period for him, receiving a five-minute major and game misconduct later on.
After Westfield responded once again off a 2-on-1 leading to another Hemingway goal, the Red Foxes brought the hammer down, rattling off three more goals in the period: Mercogliano backhanded one over the shoulder of Antonio Scalise, Jack Woodhead converted in front after slick passes from Mercogliano and Jonathan Martirano during a 4-on-3 power play, and Zac Taylor put the cherry on top, catching Scalise sleeping after Mercogliano fed him in front. The Red Foxes accounted for four of the six second-period goals as they took a 6-3 lead into the locker room.
Westfield refused to go away in the third period, quickly chipping away at the 3-goal deficit with two goals in 30 seconds. Marist then dropped the hammer once again, scoring three straight goals just like they did in the second period, as the crowd anticipated an eye-popping tenth goal that never came. Westfield eventually got another goal with 1:13 left to go, but the damage was already done.
The Red Foxes begin the first of their five road games tomorrow against UMass, looking to improve upon their one road win this season.
Edited by Jack Tomasi
Photo by Niecey Kerr
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