By: Thomas Pagliei, NU '13, Assistant Coach

This past weekend your Neumann University Roller Hockey club made the trek up to Bethpage, Long Island, New York to participate in the final games of the 2014-2015 ECRHA regular season. This past weekend was also the annual All-Star weekend. So far this year, both the Knight's Division I and Division III teams have been undefeated throughout regular season games. The weather in Long Island was extremely snowy and windy, but that did not stop the Knights continuous path of dominance. Like last weekend, numerous players were brought up from the Division III team to play Division I level hockey. These players included: Freshmen Joseph Mula, Gregory Saklad, Luc Corso, and Josh Gonzalez; Sophomores Nick DeSalvo and brother goalie Jeff DeSalvo; also brought up were Seniors Blake Lowry and Richie Capitano.

In the first matchup of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, it was your Division I Knights versus Temple University. Neumann Stormed out of the gate and scored five goals alone in the first period. Two of the five in the first were shorthanded goals scored by sophomore defenseman, PJ DiMartino and freshman forward, Tyler Kraft. Scoring the next two goals for the Knights was freshman call-up forward, Gregory Saklad. Temple did not get on the scoreboard until 5:28 into the third period. When it was all said and done, Neumann defeated Temple's Division I team by a score of 8-3.

On a snowy Saturday night, the Knights Division I team played their final regular season game against the Profs of Rowan University. Rowan opened up the scoring in the first period but that did not rattle the Knights. Soon after Rowan's goal, senior forward Nick Allison opened up scoring for the Knights on the powerplay. The second period was nothing but the navy and gold of Neumann. The Knights scored a total of six in the second period alone. The Knights scored four goals in one minute. Two goals by Nick Allison, one from PJ DiMartino and one from Tyler Kraft put together the unbelievable drive by the Knights in the second period. The third period was pretty much the same with goals by Tyler Kraft and Nick Allison. The final score of the matchup ended up being 10-2 Knights. The Neumann Division I team finished their regular season with the amazing undefeated record of 18-0, with 201 goals for and only 30 goals against.

On the Division III side of things, the Knights played Temple University and local Hofstra University. In the first game against Temple, the Owls scored first but that didn't worry Neumann. Gregory Saklad opened up the scoring for the Knights with two straight goals in the first period. Freshman Josh Gonzalez scored as well to end the scoring for the first period. Freshman Luc Corso scored twice in the second period, with one of goals being a powerplay goal to continue Neumann's dominance. The Knights scored three more in the third period including a goal 24 seconds into the third by team captain, senior defenseman Blake Lowry. The final score of the game was: Knights 9, Owls 1.

The Knights Division III team wrapped up their regular season with a very "spirited" game against league rival, Hofstra University. Starting off the scoring for the Knights was senior forward Richie Capitano, scoring at the 6:11 mark of the first period. The Knights continued their scoring with goals from Gregory Saklad, Luc Corso, Nick DeSalvo and Joe Mula. In the second and third period combined, the Knights scored a total of five powerplay goals. When the final buzzer sounded, the Knights took the game by a score of 8-1. The Knights Division III team finished their regular season with an undefeated record of 16-0. They finished their regular season with 174 goals for, and 41 goals against.

On Friday, March 6, 2015, both Neumann Roller Hockey teams begin ECRHA playoffs at the annual regional tournament at the Sportsplex in Feasterville-Trevose, PA. Division 1's first round-robin game is against Northeastern University at 1:00pm on Friday. Division III's first round-robin game will take place against Hofstra University tentatively on Friday, March 6^th at 6:00pm. We hope to see a lot of fans in the stands at regional playoffs! Wear your navy and gold!

That night, the annual ECRHA Awards Banquet will be held with a lot of your favorite Neumann players being nominated for various awards. Senior AJ Ehinger is nominated for Division I player of the year. Junior goalie Michael Maczynski is nominated for Division I Goaltender of the year. Freshmen Sean Phelan and Gregory Saklad are both nominated for the Division III player of the year and also Division III rookie of the year awards. Head Coach Lee Strofe is nominated for coach of the year award as well. 

ECRHA Headlines: 

• 2015 ECRHA Championship Schedule (Division I)
• 2015 ECRHA Championship Schedule (Division III)
• All-Star Festivity Recap
• ECRHA Awards Banquet Finalists & Information
• Awards Banquet Finalists - Part 2