In what was a hard fought first period, freshman Brian Halm opened the
scoring.  Halm took a feed from Sam Tafel and buried the puck from
close range.  Although Rutgers dominated the opening thirty minutes of
the game, they found themselves down by a goal.  Rutgers finally found
a breakthrough while down a man.  Brett Hodshon leveled the score with
the assist to Cunard and with time dying down in the 2nd, the two
connected again but with Cunard netting the goal.  Stephen George also
picked up an assit on the play.

After the intermission Rutgers expanded their.  First sophomore Marty
Wojciechowski slotted home on a two on one with Paul Zechmeister.
Cunard scored his second less than 2 minutes later with an assist to
Steve Osvold.

The game would eventually head to overtime.  After some up and down
play Rutgers was able to find the back of the net.  Hodshon netted his
second of the night with almost a minute remaining.  Freshman Dylan
LaMorte picked up an assist on the game winning goal.

For Rutgers the night was a great success.   With the win Rutgers
clinched a playoff berth.  It is the first time since the program
established a second team has it made the playoffs.  Senior Dennis
Cunard reached 41 points in 41 regular season games, a great
achievement for any player.  He will look to end his career on a high
note with a strong showing in the GNCHC playoffs.

After a scoreless first, Rutgers took a lead halfway through the
second period.  Freshman Jake Pyhel and Stephen George broke into the
Seton Hall zone two-vs-one and Pyhel slotted the puck home.  After
conceding a goal in the dying seconds in the second period, Rutgers
played a solid third period and successfully killed a penalty late in
third period to force overtime.

It was a hard fought game for Rutgers who played the game with a
shortened bench due to injuries.    The solid team effort combined
with great goaltending from Troy Herman, who had 30 saves on the
night, was rewarded with the two points.

It was a big win for Rutgers who fell to Seton Hall 7-2 on home ice
Friday night.  On the night Rutgers got goals from Martin Bernstein
and Paul Zechmeister, his first as an Ice Knight. Mike Podlaski and Brett Hodshon assisted on both goals.

Rutgers is next in action against Gettysburg on November 19th at
Protec Ponds.  Faceoff is scheduled for 8:30.  The Ice Knights will
then close out the semester the following weekend on the road against
Princeton and The College of New Jersey.

Rutgers was able to come out of the second period tied at three. Freshman Sam Tafel tied the game at 2. Tafel forced a turnover at the blue line before and took the puck down the ice to score. Jake Pyhel, coming off a three point game last weekend tied the game at 3 later in the period. Pyhel put the puck in from the back door on a feed from LaMorte, his second assist on the night. Drew Woods also picked up an assist on the play. Pyhel wasn’t done on the night though. After falling behind, Pyhel went out as the extra attacker with the goalie pulled. Upon entering the zone the puck magically found his stick and he converted his shot home. The goal came with just 52 seconds remaining in regulation. Sam Seigeldorf was credited with the assist on the play.

The win was not on the cards for Rutgers though as Muhlenberg scored the overtime winner with less than a minute remaining. Goalie Troy Miller made 36 saves on the night, including at least 10 in each period. Over the last three weeks Rutgers had put together a series of wins against NJIT, Millersville and CW Post. Rutgers has picked up a point in 6 of their 7 games this season. Next weekend Rutgers play a home and home series with division rivals Seton Hall.

The Knights fell behind half way through the first but were able to quickly get back into the game. Pyhel, along with teammate Sam Seigeldorf, forced a turnover in the NJIT zone that was converted into a goal by Pyhel. After falling behind in the 2nd, Dennis Cunard put home a power play rebound. The other Ice Knights goal was scored by Steve Osvold, who put home a pass from Pyhel, to tie the game in the third.

Troy Herman made 42 saves, including 19 in the first, to earn the win. Marc Buccellato, Dennis Cunard and Jake Pyhel picked up assists on the night. The Ice Knights will be back in action at ProtecHockey Ponds against Muhlenberg on November 5th at 9pm.

Since the inception of the Division 2 team, every season has been a steady climb to one goal: the post-season. The 2011-12 season is no different. In fact, it is expected to be a great season. “With the talent on the D2 squad this season and with the work-ethic of the returning players, we expect a lot from this group”, explained D1 Head Coach Andy Gojdycz. “With Coach Sarch and the addition of Coach Mores and Coach Reilly, we expect the team to corral around each other, have some fun this season and get to playoffs”. The GNCHC Playoffs will be held at ProtecHockey Ponds this season, the home of the Ice Knights.

This past Friday, Rutgers defeated GNCHC foe University of Pennsylvania 7-2. Marc Buccellato, Jake Pyhel, and Brian Weiniger received their first goals in the Rutgers sweater as freshman and Brian Halm, Paul Zechmeister, Sam Tafel, Stephen George, Owen Ruether and Brian Melesciuc received their first Rutgers point in the form of assists.

On Sunday, the Ice Knights had early troubles with Scranton but were able to come skating back in the game, unfortunately losing by one, 5-4. Rutgers outshot Scranton in the game, but could not find the back of the net towards the end of the game.

This Friday brings TCNJ to ProtecHockey Ponds for another in conference match-up. Puck drops at 9pm.

“I think it is great that coach was selected for the All-Star Game,” says Adams. “Coach pours his heart into hockey and it shows. He has changed the whole image of the NECHL and with him as commissioner of our league I know it will only continue to grow. He has taken Rutgers from winless to D-1 Nationals and that is a statement of hard work and discipline.” Gojdycz, who is “honored” by his selection to the All-Star Coaching Staff, has respectively declined the offer to coach in this game. “It’s a great honor to be selected; however I have to attend to work and my family this weekend. The team has been away for some time now and my youth teams as well. I have been away for a lot of weekends this year. I have to slow down and be with my wife during her pregnancy. In addition to that, we have a big youth tourney at the Ponds that I cannot miss.”

Adams decision to attend Rutgers University began two years ago while he was playing juniors in The Eastern Junior Hockey League for the New England Falcons. “Education is a huge part as to why I chose to come to Rutgers,” says Adams. “If you go all over the country, everyone knows and respects the university. But over my past two years of playing juniors I also developed a pretty strong relationship with coach Andy and (Adriaan) Klaassen. They were integral parts of my ultimate decision of coming to Rutgers.” And a great decision it was. This season was highlighted for Adams by “Gil’s hat trick”, our win against Kent State with coach Klaassen getting his first win as a head coach, our Citrus Bowl competitions in practice, and seeing coach Andy’s and our senior goalie Adam Huff’s faces after we clinched Nationals against Cortland.” Adams, who shares the sentiments with Captain Gil Schaffer, would like to thank all the coaches, Reid and parents for showing support.

Making it to Nationals was a huge accomplishment for the team. “Our team played very well,” says Adams. “No one really gave us a shot coming into Nationals and we were actually the team who scored the most goals on the eventual National Champ (Lindenwood). We had slow starts to both games and in our first game our goalie freshman Brandon De Libero played his head off. The game could have gotten out of hand if we didn’t settle down or have a strong goaltending performance. I think after the first period of our first game we started to embrace our role of being the underdog and really started to right the ship. Finishing the season on a loss (against SUNY-Canton) isn’t usually encouraging but we fought back and it showed that we don’t quit from our coaches right on down.”

Giving a great deal of credit to the team’s play at Nationals, Adams felt “pretty well” about his own play at the tournament. “All of my line mates in Chicago were great. Matt (Ruthberg) who I’ve played with most of the season and also my two others, Donato (Fanelle) and Brett (Hodshon) made me play better throughout the weekend.” Adams, whose humble character exemplifies the importance of team, is not afraid to take responsibility for a loss. “The last game I thought we lost directly because of the penalties I took with the last one being the eventual game winner in overtime. Our team fought so hard to get back in the game and I just gave the other team (SUNY-Canton) an opportunity to win.”

As Adams and the team look toward the Knight’s future, higher goals may now be set after coming off of a prosperous season. “One of my goals for next season is most certainly a clean sweep of our league title,” says Adams. “We fell short of that this year with a tough loss in the final (against Binghamton).” Another National Tournament birth is another goal that Adams would like to see come to fruition, this time ending in a win since almost the entire team will be returning. “This year was a feel good story with our team going to Chicago. But it is not enough moving forward.” Adams is making sure, as a personal goal that the team does not get “too complacent”. To insure that this does not happen, Adams will be working out at the Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn New Jersey and shooting hundreds of pucks in his driveway when “my dad isn’t running me into the ground building pools”.

The first contest was against the #1 ranked Lindenwood University Lions, the team that eventually won the Nationals for the second year in a row on Wednesday against the #5 seeded Iowa State University Cyclones 2-0. According to Schaffer, who scored the first goal in the contest against this top team, Lindenwood is #1 for a reason. But the Ice Knights have a great deal to be proud of. In an 8-3 loss, with 5 of the goals against the Knights coming in the first period, the team did not give up. Take away the first period, and you have periods two and three ending in a 3-2 game. “We really fought hard the entire game,” says Schaffer. “We came in gunning for the upset, but to keep it in perspective, we came away with a valuable experience, showing everyone that Rutgers Hockey has turned a corner.” In addition to Schaffers goal, a power play goal assisted by Will Bolinder and Jason Adams, goals were also scored by John Beatrice (an unassisted goal) and Matt Ruthberg, assisted by Adams and Brett Hodshon. The Ice Knights scored a total of 3 goals on the Lions, the most goals scored on Lindenwood in the tournament. Freshman goaltender Brandon De Libero had 50 saves in an all-out-effort.

The second game of the tournament against The SUNY Canton Kangaroos was the epitome of a blood-pressure-raising contest for all of the Rutgers fans and family members, whom Gil Schaffer would like to thank on behalf of the team, for being there to support their Knights at Nationals. In a 6-5 overtime loss, the Knights battled back in the third period, scoring 4 of their 5 goals in a span of twelve minutes. “After two periods, the game was not where we wanted it to be,” says Schaffer. “But when we went out for the third period, we were determined to show everybody what we were really made of. That third period comeback showed the talent and the heart that we had all season.” Four of the goals in the game were power play goals, which were scored by John Beatrice, Jason Adams, Gil Schaffer and Will Bolinder, assisted by Tyler Rogers, Matt Ruthberg (2), Timmy Nakajima, Jason Adams (2) and Gil Schaffer. Nick Kasmaninan scored the tying goal, assisted by Timmy Nakajima and Joe Ippolito at 6:32 remaining in the third period. Goaltender Eric Visnoski had 21 saves in the contest. Schaffer believes that the teams’ play to the end of the tournament solidified the program on the National level.

The season has come to an end. But this ending is the beginning of many great things to come for this young Knights team, a team that is filled with talent and full of heart.

Jason Adams, the leading scorer on this year’s squad, received first team NECHL honors. Adams, (12g, 38a, 50pts) is the first Rutgers player in 10 years to break the 50-point mark in one season. The freshman lead the NECHL in total assists and was second in total points for the league. Adams is also in the Top 3 in ACHA D-1 for assists this season, another first accomplishment for Rutgers.

Matt Ruthberg and Will Bolinder were given 2nd Team NECHL honors. Ruthberg, a frosh from Suffern- NY, had 19g and 23a for 42pts. He was top 8 in the NECHL for total points and top 4 in assists in the NECHL. Will Bolinder, another freshman, finished the regular season with 3g 5a and 8pts. The NECHL saw his confident place on the blue-line and his plus/minus ratio was in the top 3 for the NECHL. He helped back-bone the Ice Knights this season.

Gil Schaffer, captain of the current squad, finished up with 14g 19a and 33pts and was given Honorable Mention and named to the All-Tourney Team. He was in the Top 10 for assists and goals in the NECHL regular season.

The Knights will face #1 ranked Lindenwood at the Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville, Illinois, the location of this year’s ACHA Division 1 National Tournament. The game begins at 4:00 on March 6.

Now for the big picture… The Ice Knights finished first in the regular season of the NECHL with an overall winning record of 17-15. They scored a total of 83 goals in the NECHL, the second highest in the league and they gave up only 37 goals, the lowest in the league. And yes, the Ice Knights are going to D-1 Nationals for the first time in the programs history! Rutgers visited the D-2 National Tourney in 1995, 1996 and hosted the 1997 ACHA Tourney.

Scoring in the game against Cortland came from John Beatrice (2 goals), Timmy Nakajima (2 goals), Matt Ruthberg, Jason Adams and Gil Schaffer (short-handed). Assists in the game were by Jason Adams (4 assists), Gordon Bowen (2 assists), Will Bolinder, Gil Schaffer (2 assists), TJ Fiorillo, Andrew Shapiro, Nick Kashmanian and Matt Ruthberg (2 assists). Sophomore goaltender Eric Visnovsky had 26 saves in the contest.

The Knights traveled to Liberty University, the #2 ranked team in the nation, the following day. In a respectable 8-2 loss, the Knights received scoring from Timmy Nakajima, a power play goal, assisted by Jason Adams and a second goal scored by Tyler Rogers, assisted by Joe Kubrak. Both goals were scored in the first period of the game. Freshman net minder Brandon De Libero faced 61 shots in the contest, stopping 53.

Rutgers next game will be against the highest remaining seed on Saturday, February 20 in the NECHL Playoffs. The games, which are hosted by Penn State Berks, will be played at The Body Zone Complex in Wysomissing Pa. It is one win loss elimination tournament. If the Knights win on Saturday, they will play in the finals the following day at 1:30 pm.

The Nationals, hosted by Robert Morris University, begin on Saturday, March 6 at The Edge located in Bensenville, Illinois. The Knights, who are ranked 38th nationally will play Lindenwood, the #1 ranked team in the country on Saturday evening at 4:00. “We have plenty of work to do,” says Captain Schaffer. “But Rutgers has arrived at the National scene, and now comes the fun part!”

A special thank you goes out to Ralph Bowen, Gordon Bowen’s dad, for his magnificent saxophone rendition of The National Anthem that he played all season before each home game!