The Golden Rams took on the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen in hopes that they could come up with a big win for their seniors on Senior Night. Their efforts fell short, losing the game 5-1, despite the fact that they put up a fight until the very end of the game.
West Chester came out to a fast and furious start, applying lots of pressure on LVC, whose goalie Chase Wilson made all the big stops early for the Dutchmen.
It was LVC that got on the board first with a goal from Jake Thomas, who beat West Chester goalie Michael Rice. Poor passing is what led to the three-on-two breakaway for the Dutchmen.
It appeared as though the referee was going to let the teams play in the first period, not calling many penalties. However, West Chester fans were irate when he missed about four penalty calls against LVC in a two-minute span. This span included LVC center Russ Armbruster interfering with Rice, leading to a scrum on the ice, but no penalties called.
Fans and players alike grew even more unhappy when shortly after this sequence a penalty was called against Joseph Opdenaker for West Chester. This led to a power play goal by LVC, giving them a 2-0 lead after the first period of play.
Things didn’t get much better for the Rams in the second period, as they surrendered two more goals under five minutes into the period, with one goal coming with LVC having a full two-minute, five-on-three advantage.
After Adrian Case of West Chester was called for a kneeing penalty, leading him to lie hurt on the ice, a scrum ensued just 53 seconds into the period, leading to 32 penalty minutes.
LVC’s Joey LaBonte was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty, while Charles Case was given a two and a 10-minute misconduct penalty while also being ejected from the game.
West Chester came back strong after surrendering one power play goal while killing off the other minor penalty, playing with lots of determination to try to get a goal on the board before the period came to an end. However, the damage was already done with a four-goal deficit at the end of the period, making a comeback almost impossible.
With the sloppy passing of West Chester mixed with the strong stick checking of LVC, it looked as though more of the same could be expected in the third period of play. Frustration had set in on goaltender Rice, who hit his stick on the glass before leaving the ice.
The Rams had another strong start to the third period, getting a goal from senior captain Jimmy McKee just three minutes into the period. However, that was as close as the Rams would come, as Jake Thomas added another goal for LVC to give him a hat-trick in the game.
West Chester will look to extract revenge in their matinee match-up against LVC on Saturday, but will have to do so without leading scorer Justin Finnerty, whose season ended early in the first period when he suffered a broken collar bone.
West Chester had a pre-game ceremony to honor their seniors Adrian Case, John Albanese, Zach Jensen, Ryan Evans, and Jimmy McKee, allowing their parents to come onto the ice with them before the game started. You can catch the seniors in action, as well as the rest of their teammates, on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7:45 p.m. as they take on Lehigh University in what will be their final game of the season.
Austin Zelenak can be reached at AZ771993@wcuupa.edu