Senior captain Rob Troxell’s 13th goal of the year at 12:20 in the first period was all that West Chester needed to shut down their division rival Drexel Dragons, 4-0 on Friday night at Ice Line arena in West Chester. The puck was controlled off the face-off by West Chester in the Drexel zone, and was quickly moved to the point. The shot was unloaded by Jim Gehring, which was deflected high in the slot by Troxell, and managed to find it’s way through a mass of bodies, and into the net.
Though West Chester’s offense capitalized with goals when it counted, their defense was the key to the win. Freshman goaltender Corey Hackney stifled the Drexel offense, frustrating them by not allowing rebounds, and stopping the shots he needed to preserve the shut out. West Chester’s defense was rarely out of position, forcing Drexel to take the majority of their shots from poor positions and with no shot of follow up chances. Drexel struggled all game getting out of their own zone as West Chester’s defensive positioning cut off passing lanes and made it very difficult for Drexel to make multiple passes. Once in the neutral zone, they were unable to do much more then dump the puck into the offensive zone. Hackney picked up his second shutout of his career, and second in the past three games.
West Chester’s puck handlers showed impressive poise and patience, controlling the puck and finding the open man with crisp passes, making it extremely tough on Drexel’s defense to win the battles necessary to get the pressure out of their zone.
Drexel tried to set the tone early with physical play, but was quickly responded to by West Chester, specifically Jason Ferrell, who flew around the ice like a wrecking ball. Ferrell had a few highlight-reel hits, none better than when he knocked a Drexel player’s helmet off.
Jim Gehring continued his great play with his 21st goal of the season and added four more goals the next day in an 8-3 WCU win over Drexel. Shorthanded specialist Kenny Bergeron’s quick shot made its way under Drexel goaltender Jason Mardinly’s blocker Senior defenseman Bobby Jones capped the scoring at 2:50 of the third period when his slap shot found its way through a maze of players for a power play goal, his fourth of the season. WCU completed the season sweep of Drexel on Saturday with an 8-3 decision at Drexel.
Since late October, West Chester has been on fire, winning 14 out of 16 games, and is now 13-1 in ECHA play. This division win against Drexel keeps them in the running for first place with a second place division record of 13-1, only behind the University of Rhode Island (15-1). The loss drops the struggling Drexel to 9-6 in the division, and in desperate need of wins, as they have lost their last three, and have only four wins in their last 14 games. West Chester next faces Rutgers on Friday on the road and comes back home for a tough non-conference game Saturday night at 7:30 vs. University of Delaware, currently ranked #10 in the country.