New York, NY -- The NYU men's hockey team suffered a crushing blow Sunday night when the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils defeated them 6-4. It was the Violets first loss of the season.
With a new coach and a bevy of strong players, the Violets opened the season wiht a five-game winning streak that had them tied for second place with Marist College in the Super East Collegiate Hockey League, right behind State University of New York - Stony Brook. After Sunday's defeate at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink, the team is now tied for third with the Blue Devils and Siena College.
Connecticut started the game with two early goals, scoring with 18:30 and 14:59 left in the period, respectively. The remainder of the first period was filled with penalty calls against both Connecticut and NYU.
With 10:44 left in the period, the Violets scored their first goal of the game and cut the lead in half.
The first period proved difficult for NYU as the slow tempo of the game played to the Blue Devils' advantage. NYU freshman goalie Eli Williams, who had allowed only five goals in the team's first five games, gave up two early goals less than four minutes apart as Connecticut controlled the puck.
NYU got off to a much faster start in the second period, with the players rallying and working against Connecticut's quick offense.
However, with 11:10 left in th e period, Connecticut gained a breakaway goal and led the Violets by two once again.
NYU quickly came back and scored a goal of their own with 8:58 left in the period.
Despite NYU's fast start, Connecticut's defense blocked numerous shots on goals, combating a passing strategy that in previous games had proved lethal to NYU's opponents.
At 13.5 seconds left in the period, Connecticut scored again, bringing their advantage to 4-2 at the end of the second period.
In the final period, play became extremely rough on both sides. NYU's co-Captain Ryan Hughes opened scoring in the period with a breakaway goal, with 16:28 minutes left.
Following NYU's goal, Connecticut's play became extremely defensive. Constantly dumping the puck out of their zone, the Blue Devils prevented all NYU's scoring attempts.
The dumping strategy also worked offensively for the Blue Devils as it led to their fifth goal of the game with 5:26 left in the period.
With Connecticut up by one, Violets coach Lloyd Polanish made a strategic gamble and pulled goalie Eli Williams out of the net in order to gain anadditional player. It resulted in the Blue Devils' sixth and final goal with 30.5 seconds left in the game.
Banging the boards as they skated off the ice, none of the Violets would stop for an interview as they headed into the locker room after their first defeat.
"We're going to grow up from this," Polanish said. "We knew we couldn't win all 30 games in the season, but it's still disappointing. However, the players really showed a lot of grit out there, and I know that this is going to be a growing experience."
NYU's record is now 5-1. Their next game is October 26 against Marist College at home in the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink.