New York, NY -- The NYU ice hockey team had a long holiday weekend as they traveled to Philadelphia to play LaSalle University, and then on to Baltimore to ptake on Johns Hopkins. The Violets defeated both teams and, combined with Friday's victory, completed a three game weekend sweep.
Because both LaSalle and Johns Hopkins are Division II teams, and not in the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC), NYU graduate students on the team are allowed to play. The graduate students added experience to the balanced Violet attack.
Staurday's early game at Philadelphia's Wintersport Rink got underway at 11:45am, but it was more of a wake up call for LaSalle as NYU came out on top by a score of 5-4. WIth only 17 minutes for each period, instead of the MCHC regulation 20 minutes, the Violets knew that they had to show the strong hockey they usually perform in a condensed time. For the first several minutes, both teams came out shaky. Passes were not connecting, the puck was loosely handled and concentration seemed to be lacking. After becoming accustomed to the rink's uneven ice, NYU's game flowed nicely. The Violets' top scorer Kirk Shimizuishi, gave the team a spsrk at 13:17 of the opening period with a shot that sailed past LaSalle goalie Pete MacNeal. Shimizuishi and graduate student Steve Finkelstein assistes on a goal soon afterward by forward Prentiss Noyes o give NYU a 2-0 lead going into the second period.
Action started to increase in the second and third periods as LaSalle fought to get back into the game. The Violets responded to each LaSalle goal with one of their own, including an impressive, cleanly placed shot at 10:01 of the second period by defenseman Sean Mahoney. Shimizuishi kept up his point scoring with an assist on the goal. Both teams combined for a paltry total of eight penalty minutes.
Violet netminder Fred Kaufmann provided stable backup in the goal behind his defensive core. Kaufmann's effort included him flopping around the net to try to prevent anything from getting behind him. A few flukey goals trickled in and kept LaSalle in the game. This, however, was one of his better performances as he came up with 35 saves.
In Sunday's game versus Johns Hopkins, NYU trekked to Baltimore's Ice World Rink, where three 15 minute periods were enough for an easy 7-1 Violet win. NYU graduate students were once again allowed to participate.
Johns Hopkins kicked off the scoring at 10:53 of the first. As opposed to the contest against LaSalle, this was not a golaie's duel. After an uneasy start, most of the action took place at Hopkins' end of the ice. NYU's first goal came at 14:27 of the first period, courtesy of right wing Tom Capotosta from Kirk Shimizuishi. The shot hit the goal post and slid into the net unbeknownst to the opposing goaltender. Capotosta scored two more goals in the next two periods, giving him a hat trick for the day. The essence of the Violets' game was best displayed by captain Paul Leakas and forward Sara Smith. At 9:05 of the second period, Leakas and Smith sped up the ice on a two-on-one breakaway, combined precision passing and crisp stickhandling, and beat the lone defender to give NYU a 3-0 lead.
To close out the second, enforcing defenseman Jon Hsia scored on a play set up by Tom Capotosta and Sean Mahoney at the 12:36 mark. By that point, Hopkins was in a 6-1 hole. Smith capped off the victory with a goal in the third that was assisted by the two graduates, Kim Meaney and Steve Finkelstein. NYU outshot Hopkins 40-15. The teams clash again at Chelsea Piers on Friday, March 6th.
HOCKEY NOTES: In Saturday's LaSalle game, Finkelstein totaled a high of four points with a goal and three assists... Against Hopkins, Capotosta and Shimizuishi combined for eight points. Capotosta had three goals and an assist and Shimizuishi had four Assists.