Raiders Fall To Slippery Rock, Sink Binghamton & Millersville
Shippensburg Ties Slippery Rock For 1st Place
ECRHA October 23rd, 2008 at 6:47AM October 23rd, 2008 6:53AMWith both Sean Sheridan and Tom Cavanaugh returning to the lineup
for the first time this season, the Raiders had reason to be optimistic against
Slippery Rock. The fellow SSHE School from Western Pennsylvania
came into the game after posting a 2-1-0 record during the preseason.
Adam Keplinger (Zelienople,
PA) staked Slippery Rock to a
2-goal lead, when he capitalized on a pair of Shippensburg turnovers. Kyle
Kraynak extended the SRU lead with a breakaway tally in the early stages of the
second period.
Shippensburg finally solved Slippery Rocks keeper with
Justin Barie (Pittsburg, PA) in the box for roughing. Tom Cavanaugh (Clifton Heights, PA)
connected on a pass from Jeff Kulp (Harleysville,
PA) to get the Raiders on the
scoreboard and cut the deficit to 3-1.
However, that was as close as the Raiders would get,
surrendering goals in the final minutes of the second period and two goals in
the first minute of the third. Keplinger registered the 6th and
final goal for Slippery Rock, recording the hat trick.
In the final minute of regulation, Sean Sheridan (Delaware County, PA)
scored a PP marker for the Raiders. Cavanaugh and George Gallen (Clifton Heights, PA)
helped set up the goal.
The Raiders outshot Slippery Rock 35-29 in the game but
couldn’t put enough pucks into the net to keep themselves in the game, ultimately
falling 6-2 and dropping to 0-1-0 in the regular season.
A few hours later, the Raiders returned to the rink to face Binghamton University. Shippensburg holds a 3-1-0
all-time series lead, including a decisive 7-3 victory over Binghamton in the ECRHA Regional
Championships last season.
However, Brendan McFarland (Woodbury,
NY) proved to have forgotten the loss from
last season when he picked off a pass and rattled down the rink scoring
shorthanded, giving Binghamton
the important 1-0 lead.
Binghamton
then found themselves in a heap load of trouble. After a sequence in which Binghamton took five
minor penalties, the Raiders had taken a 2-1 lead on a pair of PP tallies by sophomore
Sean Sheridan.
Unfortunately, Shippensburg couldn’t fully capitalize. Matt
Capriotti (Springville, NY)
intercepted a pass and streaked down the rink, firing a well place shot just
between goalie Tyler Anderson’s (Strongsville,
OH) pads to knot the game at 2-2.
Tom Moore (Washingtonville, NY) put the bearcats back on top when he skated through
the defense and made a nice move before finding the back of the net for a 3-2 Binghamton advantage.
After another Binghamton penalty,
their sixth of the game, for not wearing elbow pads after being warned, Kyle
Grizzard (Scotch Plains, NJ)
deflected a Cavanaugh shot past the Binghamton
goalie for a power play tally and a three all tie.
A few minutes later, with Grizzard in the box for roughing
and a Binghamton
player in for a hook, Cavanaugh and Sheridan hooked up for a highlight real
goal and a 4-3 Shippensburg lead.
Unable to maintain the momentum, Chris Bagwell (Orchard Park, NY)
deposited a McFarland pass into the back of the net to tie the game at 4-4. However,
just thirty seconds later, Shippensburg captain Brian Schnepp (Sharon Hill, PA)
fired a floater that somehow found its way into the back of the net for a 5-4 lead.
With time winding down in the second period, Kyle Grizzard
got his second of the game, firing in the rebound of a Gallen slap shot from
the point. The assist for Gallen was he second of the game and helped the Raiders
go into the intermission leading 6-4.
After a very defensive third period the Raiders found
themselves on the power play with less than two minutes to go. Schnepp somehow
found a way to fire a rebound into the net. The puck seemed to hit Schnepp in
the chest and roll over the top of the sprawled out goalie and into the back of
the net.
Binghamton added two late
scores to cut the lead to 7-6, but time had run out on Binghamton. Shippensburg discipline play and
hustle rewarded them with a 10-2 advantage in penalties and a hard fought
victory.
With the ability to close out the weekend tied for 1st
place in the conference, Shippensburg needed no extra motivation to be ready to
play. However, they got just that with long time bitter rival, Millersville University.
Back in 2006, Shippensburg-Millersville could have been
considered the best rivalry in DII behind Maine-Vermont. Both teams always came
out fired up and ready to go each game. However, with the conference realignment,
it had been almost two years since the last meaningful game in the rivalry.
Shippensburg came into the game with a plan to limit the
amount of chances Millersville’s big three would have. Chris Lerch, Tim
Hollenback and Derrick Kreiser (Annville,
Pa) had combined to score 15 of
20 Millersville goals in their first five games.
After a defensive start to the game, Shippensburg benefited
from a quirky play late in the first period. After a save by the Millersville
goaltender, Sean Sheridan alertly scored from his stomach on a rebound that
barley crossed the line. Shippensburg’s bench had a delayed reaction on the
goal, since they weren’t sure it crossed the line, it did and Ship lead 1-0.
A little over a minute later, Jeff Kulp took a wrist shot
that looked to be going wide of the net until Grizzard got a piece of it and
redirected it into the back of the net for a 2-0 Ship lead late in the first.
Early in the second period, Grizzard once again made a nice
deflection down in front of the Millersville goalie. The shot by Cavanaugh was
deflected past the goalie for a commanding 3-0 lead for the Raiders and control
of the game.
The final goal for the Raiders came when Grizzard hit
defenseman Sean Sheridan for an outlet pass and sprung Sheridan and Cavanaugh
for a 2 on 1. Sheridan
held the puck until the last possible second and found Cavanaugh who roofed the
shot for a 4-0 lead.
Tyler Anderson held on strong in net, turning aside 16 shots
to lower his goals against average to 4.00 on the season. The Raiders outshot
Millersville 29-16.