Hofstra Knocks Off UM ? St. Louis

In the ECRHA Regional Championship Tournament last month, 7^th ranked Hofstra University showed a penchant for coming from behind late in games to advance to the next round.  The Pride showed their moxie coming back from late deficits in their last three games to win the ECRHA Division II Championship defeating defending champion Neumann College in the final. 

 

With their ticket stamped for a trip to Colorado, the Pride looked to knock off a second defending champion in as many events and they got the opportunity Saturday morning when they faced off against the defending Division II National Champion in the University of Missouri at Saint Louis. 

 

Eerily similar to their regional championship performance, Hofstra found themselves trailing late in the third period by a score of 6-5 with under 3:00 remaining in the third period when Dino Virone scored a power play goal, his third of the game, to tie the game at 6-6 with 2:42 remaining and set up a fantastic finish. 

 

In the final minute of play Jay Becker (1 goal, 1 assist) skated into the Rivermen zone with the puck along the right side before moving the puck to Virone with a bank pass off the right wing boards.  Virone surveyed his options skating up the boards before circling into the middle of the rink and firing a quick wrist shot through the pads of UMSL goaltender Thomas Ames (22 saves) to put Hofstra ahead 7-6 with just 0:39 remaining. 

 

The goal ended UM-St. Louis?s run in defense of their title short of their desired finish, but solidified Hofstra?s viability as a top team in Division II this season.  John Raudenauer made 26 saves in goal for Hofstra to pickup the win.  Virone lead the way for Hofstra with four goals, while Joe Macedo, Charlie Nack, and Becker each contributed one goal for the Pride.  Zach Stacy (3 goals, 1 assist) paced the UM-St. Louis offense which also received contributions from James Wetton (2 goals, 3 assists) and Jon Girard (1 goal). 

 

In a very odd coincidence, during the ECRHA Championship Tournament the Pride found themselves trailing against Shippensburg University in the quarterfinals late in the third period before they came from behind to win by a 7-6 score.  Is this just a coincidence?  I guess we will just have to wait and see?

 

Hofstra advances into the Elite Eight where they will play a rematch of the ECRHA Championship game when they face-off against Neumann College at 7:45 PM Saturday evening.  This will be the third game between the two teams with both teams claiming one victory and one loss in the series.  With the loss the Rivermen finish their season with an overall record of 23-7-3. 

 

?We?re really looking forward to our match up with Neumann,? commented Hofstra team president A.J. Frey about his team?s next opponent.  ?Our last game was such a tight battle and we would really like to take this opportunity to prove ourselves again, this time on a national stage.?