By: Thomas Pagliei, NU '13, Assistant Coach
 
This past weekend your Neumann University Roller Hockey club's Division I team played three regular season games at nearby Choice Inline in Sewell, NJ. The Division III team had off this past weekend, but two players got the call-up to play Division I for the first time this season. Sophomore forward Nick DeSalvo and freshman defenseman, Sean Phelan participated in this past weekend's games. On the schedule for the Knights were: Hofstra University (NY), Northeastern University (MA), and University of Rhode Island.

In the first matchup between the Knights and Hofstra University, the Knights came out firing on all cylinders scoring six goals in the first period alone. Senior forward and assistant captain Nick Allison scored seven goals total in the game, while senior defenseman, also assistant captain AJ Ehinger scored four goals and also had five assists, and junior forward Brandon Boyle scored three goals with two assists. When the game was through, the score ended up reading Neumann 18, Hofstra, 1. There were not many penalties in this game either, just one from each team.

On a very frigid, snowy Saturday night in south Jersey, the Knights faced Northeastern University, who come from Massachusetts. The Knights scored just 51 seconds into the first period by freshman call-up Sean Phelan, who scored his first Division I goal to open up the flood gates for the Knights. The Knights continued the onslaught by firing in eleven more goals to come to a final score of 12-0. Freshman forward Joe Dangelantonio scored a hat trick in the game as well. Junior goalie Mike Maczynski posted a shutout also. Neumann outshot the Huskies by a final total of 32-10.

I asked Head Coach Lee Strofe, "What helps you to keep the team focused while being up by so many points during games?" "Great Question," said Strofe, "I remind the team that we need to continue to play a full 36 minutes of hockey and to stay focused on good habits. We are blessed to have great leadership from our captain [Tom Youmans], and other players on our team."

On Sunday morning, the Knights played their final game of the weekend versus the University of Rhode Island. The Knights put up five goals before URI put their only lone goal of the game on the board. Junior captain Tom Youmans, Senior assistant captain Nick Allison and freshman Joe Dangelantonio each scored four goals apiece. The final score of the tilt ended up being another landslide victory for the Knights, beating URI by a score of 16-1.

This upcoming weekend, your Neumann Roller Hockey Knights will travel to the Empire State to play a set of four games up in Old Bethpage, New York. Old Bethpage is a small town on Long Island. Located there is Skate Safe America where the games will be held, and also the home rink for a handful of your Neumann Knights.