OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The Neumann University men's ice hockey team saw its season come to an end on Wednesday evening, falling in the first round of the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) playoffs to Stevenson University by a score of 7-4.
 
Glenn Florczak tallied two assists in the loss, while the Knights received goals from Eric Madison, Danny Cangelosi, Clay Boyd and Barry Kneedler. Kyle Pantalone got the start in goal, stopping 37 shots on the night.
 
Things started brightly for the Knights in the first round matchup. A mostly quiet first frame was turned on its head late in the period after a Neumann penalty gave the Mustangs a late power play opportunity. Despite being down a man, it would be the Knights who would find the back of the net first on the penalty kill. Madison scored short-handed off a Tommy Dougherty pass with 1:53 left in the opening 20 minutes to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Stevenson wrestled all the momentum right back though, scoring on the same man advantage 38 seconds later to even the contest at one apiece and take all the momentum into intermission.
 
The hosts used that momentum to their advantage early in the second stanza, scoring 4:38 into the period to take a 2-1 lead. It would be the start of an action packed middle 20 minutes that saw six goals combined from the two teams. The see-saw battle continued four minutes later, as Neumann fought back with a power-play goal from Cangelosi to tie things up at 2-2. Stevenson was too much in the frame though, tallying twice in a two minute span midway through the period to gain a two-goal cushion at 4-2 with just over five minutes left in the stanza. The Knights used another power-play to get back into the game via a goal from Boyd at 16:41, but a familiar theme from the first period haunted the visitors again. Stevenson scored with just six seconds left in the period to regain its two goal lead at 5-3 and take all the wind out of the Neumann sails heading to the third.
 
The Knights suffered another gut punch early in the third, as the Mustangs lit the lamp just 1:49 into the final frame to jump out to their biggest lead of the night. Neumann kept things interesting with a Kneedler marker a minute later to bring the score back to 6-4, but that was as close as the game would be the rest of the way. Stevenson sealed the contest with two more third period goals to clinch an 8-4 victory and advance to the UCHC semifinals.
 
Neumann finishes its season with a record of 9-17. The Knights graduate eight key players from this year's team but will look to a strong junior class to help lead the team back to the UCHC playoffs next season.