Grove City Hosts ECRHA Action

The ECRHA is in Grove City PA, as the season continues this weekend. The league is represented this weekend by teams in D1, D2, and D4, as well as visiting D2 team Akron for three non-conference games.

The weekend started with a great back and forth D2 matchup between Stony Brook and Drexel. Stony Brook was coming off of a hot 3-0 start, and looking to maintain their momentum, and they did just that as Thomas Palermo opened the scoring 10 seconds into the contest. Without losing composure however, Drexel answered back 2 minutes later. The game continued back and forth as teams exchanged chances, until Stony Brook eventually found the back of the net twice in the 2nd period to extend their lead to 3-1. The 3rd period would remain consistent with the first two, as both teams battled back and forth, however Stony Brook held onto their lead, and their undefeated season, topping Drexel, 3-1 and improving to 4-0 on the season.

The goal scoring was just beginning however, as the D4 teams began to take the rink. St. Joesph’s (NY) started their season with a commanding 7-3 victory of Niagara in the second matchup of the day, Ryan Spillane and Chris Tedesco combined for 6 of St. Joesph’s 7 goals in the affair. 

Lock Haven and RIT were next to begin their seasons this weekend, as Lock Haven, who played in the D2 division last year is returning to D4, as well as losing their leading scorer Hayden White, as well as goaltender Zachary Bair. RIT is looking to start strong after a 6-6 season last year, and they did just that. Mark Perley opened the scoring 17 seconds into the game, as RIT totaled 4 goals in the first. Colin Harvey then put Lock Haven on the board early in the second courtesy of a beautiful pass in the offensive zone from Tyler Gilbert. However, this was RIT’s game to win, as starting at the 7:47 mark, RIT scored 4 more goals in a 2 minute span, extending their lead to 9-1, and continuing in the third en route to an 11-3 victory.

D1 took the rink next as Temple and Cortland took the rink in what would arguably be the most back and forth game of the weekend far. Cortland came out on quick as Matthew Horcher and Zach Adams opened up the scoring at 1:14 and 2:05 respectively. However, afterwards Ralph Grillo showed that he is a force to be reckoned with for Temple this year as he scored 5 seconds later to lower the deficit to one. Cortland scored a 3rd goal at 5:12 to further the lead to 3-1 as it remained through the first period. The second period saw Grillo return to scoring quick goals as he buried one past Cortland’s goaltender 30 seconds into the second. The second period saw the two squads traded two goals a piece again, ending with Cortland up 5-3.  But, yet again, Grillo tallied his third goal of the game a minute into the third, and temple controlled momentum throughout the third period, finally scoring the go-ahead (and eventual game winning) goal, with 49 seconds left in the third. Final Score: Temple 6 - Cortland 5.

The morning and early afternoon games continued the high scoring day, as in D2, Penn State was able to start their season with a win in a close game against Drexel 7-6, however dropped an interregional exhibition versus Akron 3-2. And in D4, teams remained finding ways to light up the scoresheet as Lock Haven took down St. Joseph’s (NY) 9-7, and RIT topped Niagara 11-5.

Action continues in all divisions in Grove City as the night comes to a close, as Robert Morris makes their regular season D1 debut, and Stony Brook looks to remain undefeated in D2.