New York, NY -- There appeared to be two different ice hockey teams playing this weekend.
After the Violets were shut out 3-0 by Montclair State University on Friday, NYU rebounded to trample Siena College on Sunday.
The Violets blasted through Siena's defense to post a convincing 10-3 victory after almost every forward on the team scored.
The 10th and final goal was recorded with one minute left on the clock in the third period. Stern senior Daniel Bressler passes the puck to freshman defenseman Mike Martin, who shot it past the beleagured Siena Goaltenter.
After that score, NYU players simply played keep-away until the final buzzer, at which point they rushed sophomore goaltender Brian Kenney and crowded each other, hugging.
Throughout the game, the Violets played hard, taking and receiving hits while making repeated hits while making repeated presses on Siena's net.
In one instance, Martin was able to take three consecutive shots on goal, claiming rebound after rebound until Siena's defense pulled the puck away and dumped it down the ice.
Yet, all the dumping in the world couldn't prevent a continual string of goals, including two by senior Drew DeWitt and a hat trick by sophomore Tom D'Agostino.
Siena, in some sense, helped NYU with the assault, The Siena goaltender was often out of position, a mistake junior John Walpole exploited for the first goal of the game when the goalie's positioning in the left side of the net allowed Walpole to knock the shot in on the right.
While three goals were enough for Montclair to slam NYU on Friday, Siena's three scores against Kenney couldn't match the Violets offensive firepower. Siena had trouble holding posession of the puck long enough to slip it into NYU's net, and failed to record any scores in the third period.
Sunday's win was an important boost to the team after Friday's disappointing loss to Montclair, co-captain Justin McDermott said.
"We were frustrated," he said. "This was our coming-out game. Friday we couldn't bury the puck. Tonight we proved that we could.
Buring the puck was one problem among many in Friday's game.
The Violets defense simply could not keep up with the barrage of shots Montclair put on net.
With seven minuted left in the first period, Montclair's Justin Conigliaro scored a power-play goal with a slap shot that knocked the puck just over Kenney's glove hand. It would be the only goal Montclair needed, but not the only one it would score.
After a dive save in the second, Kenney lost the puck and Montclair easily shot it over his head. The third goal was scored on an empty net.
The Violets could not match Montclair in speed, hitting, or power. And despite a decent number of shots on goal, NYU suffered from too many failed passes and shots that went wide of the net.
"It was ont of those intangibles," senior Alex Kalaf said. "Things didn't bounce our way. It wasn't anybody's fault. We just didn't get the rebounds or the puck into a position we needed."
But after Sunday's obliteration of Siena, the Violets seem to have gotten their groove back. Even with the absence of last year's leading scorer Matt Weindel, who is out this semester due to academic reasons, the team is achieving big wins.
"NYU hockey is finally starting to come together," co-captain Scott Zimmerman said. "We were able to pull through and really take this game, even without one of our best players."