Ramapo Ice Hockey's season ended with an 0-3 record at the Amateur Athletic Association National Championships in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Roadrunners entered the tournament as a No. 20 seed, but lost to No. 1 Florida Atlantic University (FAU), No. 10 Penn State, and No. 15 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU).
The first game was against FAU on March 8, a 5-2 loss. The Owls took the lead with a power-play goal from Jacob Friedman and an assist from Christian Koetter. Five minutes later, FAU added another point courtesy of Matt Berardi.
The Roadrunners found themselves in scoring position in the second period when they faced a 3-0 deficit. Anthony Fizer scored his first goal of the tournament off assists from Rory Maurer and Tomas Moskal, followed by Maurer's goal shortly after with an assist from Alex Cohen.
Down 3-2 entering the final game, the Roadrunners were unable to find the offense they needed to even the game, allowing two goals to FAU's Justin Greenberg and Leon Villar. It ended. The physical intensity of the game escalated as penalty time totaled over 70 minutes, and six of the seven total goals came on power play opportunities.
In Ramapo's net, Paul Fiorello saved 39 of 44 Owl shots, and FAU's Rocco Bruno made 24 of 26 Roadrunner shots.
The next day, Ramapo faced the Penn State Nittany Lions, where they again lost 5-2. Penn State got off to a strong start with four unanswered goals in the first half, led by two goals from Blake Hanson.
Midway through the second period, Michael Piccinich scored the Roadrunners' first goal of the game off an assist from Maurer. Less than a minute later, Paul Smith scored off an assist from Hanson and the Nittany Lions regained a four-point lead.
Trailing 5-1 entering the final period, Maurer scored his second goal of the tournament off assists from Fizer and Moskal. However, this was the only offensive power the Roadrunners had, and the score was 5-2 in the final.
In Ramapo's goal, Fiorello saved 20 of 25 shot attempts for Penn State, and Nittany Lions goaltender Jason Soule saved 26 of 28 shot attempts for the Roadrunners.
Finally, Ramapo finished the weekend shutout against ERAU, dropping 10-1. The Eagles saw goals by seven different players in this game, including multiple goals from Billy Callahan, Bryce Corner, and Toby Crum.
Ramapo's only goal was an unassisted goal by Moskal early in the second period. Fiorello started the game and allowed six goals on ERAU's first 18 shot attempts. He was replaced in the second period by goaltender Brian Bartles, who took 29 shots and saved 25 shots. For the Eagles, Lucas Holland saved 22 of 23 Roadrunner shots.
In the end, the Roadrunners finished the regular season with a 12-9-2 record, good for fourth place in the Empire Conference. Moskal led the team with a total of 46 points, while Fizer was first with 28 points. Fizer also recorded four hat tricks on the season, leading the team.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Amalie Hindash