The 2017-2018 Ice Hockey Team
Kneeling (Front Row) Alex Ferraro
Standing (L-R) Bob Martz, Will Kohler, Brett Martz, Eli Svonavec, Cam Ekiert, Chayton Burchick, Eric Silbaugh, Joe Moyer, Sam Paquin, Isaac Pesicka, Joel Santoro, Reese Capo, Roman Lauff, Rob Wynn, Cam Roth, Mike Ziemianski.
Not Pictured – Adam Ferguson, Eli Reith, Anthony Hogeback, Waylon, Murry, Scott Myers, Tristan Newcamp, Tanner Detesta.
SVC Drops Playoff Game against Case
A severely depleted Polar Bearcat squad lost in the opening round of the 2018-2018 CHE playoffs. Stone Haberstroh had the lone goal for Saint Vincent while the Spartans scored 12 times. SVC ended the season at 7-8-0.
Plucky Polar Bearcats Game Playoff Bid – Senior Day Win vs Edinboro
SVC ended its regular season with a solid 10-2 win over a talented Edinboro squad behind a complete team effort in which every Polar Bearcat player had an impact on the score sheet. The effort was even more rewarding when the team learned its record improved to a 7-7-0 mark with a Cal U forfeit, placing the team in the playoffs against Case Western Reserve.
Cam Ekiert opened the scoring early in the first game with a second tally soon tacked on by Cheyton Burchick. Not to be outdone, goalie Rob Wynn, forced to play forward as a result of injuries notched his first career score in what was to become the eventual game winner. Before the smoke cleared, additional goals by Sam Paquin and Joe Moyer placed SVC up by a 5-1 margin and the team never looked back.
Freshman defenseman Isaac Pesicka had his first career Polar Bearcat goal on an end to end rush with Sam Paquin getting a second tally. The 3’rd period, saw Joe Moyer block a shot and race to a breakaway short handed goal while Paquin completed his 6’th career hat trick. Cam Ekiert finished what he started with a backhand score form his own rebound to round out the 10-2 win. Both of Edinburg’s scores came on power plays.
Will Kohler ended his senior year with a 2 assist effort and Eric Silbaugh had his first multiple point game with 2 helpers as well. Eli Svonavec, normally a forward, excelled as a blue liner with strong passing and an incredible plus 9 rating for the contest. Reese Capo, 2 assists and a plus 7, and Stone Haberstroh, 2 assists and plus 3 also had strong efforts. Joel Santoro won more than his fare share of face-offs and set up the first score of the game. Alex Ferraro improved his record in goal to 7-7-0 and moved his save percentage to an even .900.
Polar Bearcats End First Semester at 5-4-0
The SVC icers played two exciting games to end the first semester of their 2017-2018 season dropping a Friday night match against Gannon by a score of 6-5 and then rebounding for a 2-0 victory over Saint Francis in a Sunday matinee.
Gannon jumped all over SVC early and had the better of the play through most of the contest taking a 6-3 lead into the third period. But Saint Vincent kept up the pressure and took advantage of suspect goaltending with two scores in the third. The contest was marred by penalties, especially from the Gannon side of the ice. SVC was hampered by a lack of secondary scoring with all but one of the game’s points collected by the top line of Ferguson, Paquin and Haberstroh and defenseman Eli Reith. Ferguson lead the way with 2 goals and an assist while, Paquin and Haberstroh each contributed a goal and two helpers. Eli Reith added a tall and an assist as well. Isaac Pesicka picked up the other assist.
The Sunday game against Saint Francis rekindled a rivalry that had been dormant since 1977 when SVC dropped a 9-7 decision to the Red Flash in spite of outshooting the Loretto school by a 38 t0 18 margin. Coach Ziemianski, who played in that 1977 contest, returned behind the bench for a single game with the absence of Coach Martz for family reasons. It was the exact opposite of the 1977 game and unlike Gannon was a mostly penalty free affair until the late stages of the third period. Sam Paquin provided all the help goalie Alex Ferraro would need scoring a 5:3 power play game winner in the second period. The SFU netminder excelled on first saves and despite numerous rebound opportunities, SVC could not capitalize with another score until Paquin found the back of the net in the third period from an almost impossible angle from the far right boards, surprising the Red Flash goalie with the shot’s placement. It was the team’s first shutout since Alex Sepesy blanked WVU 4-0 in the 2011-2012 season.
In his farewell performance, SVC blue liner and December graduate Eli Reith continued to validate his place among the best defenseman in club history by assisting on both of Sam Paquins goals and continuously shutting down the top players for Saint Francis. The current home page picture demonstrates how well he could stop a play.
SVC Struggles Against Case. Stays above .500 at 4-3-0.
On the last game before Thanksgiving break, SVC traveled to Cleveland to battle the Case Western Reserve University Spartans. After the bus trip the Polar Bearcats found themselves listless and were unable to find any jump as CWRU jumped to shocking quick 3-0 lead. An astute time out by Coach Martz helped the team regroup, and late period goals by Same Paquin and Eli Reith closed the gap to one score. Although SVC held the better of the play in the second frame, outshooting Case 13-11, neither team scored. Case grew their advantage in the third, as they made good use of their second 5:3 power play pushing their lead to 5-2. Saint Vincent would rebound and again close the score to a one goal deficit, the first marker coming on and end to end goal by Eli Reith from bring the puck all the way up ice from a defensive zone face off win by Cam Ekiert. That was followed by another Sam Paquin tally. But another penalty resulted in a 6’th Spartan goal with the final tally being pushed into an empty net by the Cleveland school, for a 7-4 final. Tanner Detesta showed a strong game on D, and was the only plus player for the blue liners in the contest.
Green and Gold on 3 Game Win Streak – Best Shippensburg 9-2
Having its best offensive performance of the year, St. Vincent traveled to Hershey to face off against a young but balanced Shippensburg team at the Hershey Park Arena. Surrounded by AHL history, the Polar Bearcats played a solid first period putting 3 pucks behind the Ship net-minder while creating a 9-4 shot advantage. With the start of the second period, Shippensburg found life and drew the score to 3-2 and at one point was outshooting SVC by a wide 11-3 margin. But a 5 minute match penalty assessed against a Shippensburg player for fighting gave SVC all the advantage it needed as Joe Moyer and Adam Ferguson scored on the ensuing power play. Although the third period played evenly with 7 shots to each team, Saint Vincent scored twice to end the game at 9-2.
Although Shippensburg had a team up that was very balanced, the significant difference in the game was the top line for St. Vincent. Sam Paquin (1 goal 3 assists), Stone Haberstroh (3 goals including 2 power play and one shorthanded score), and Adam Ferguson (3 goals and 1 assist with two power play and a short handed goal) could not be matched defensively by the home team. Eli Reith picked up 3 assists off numerous rushes from his defensive zone. Joel Santoro had the first goal of his career, a score that ended being the game winner and Chayton Burchick chipped in with two assists. Eric Silbaugh, Scott Myers, and Isaac Pesicka also picked up assists. The final shot total was 33 to 27 in favor of Saint Vincent. Alex Ferraro picked up his 4’th win in the net.
SVC Rebounds for Two Wins
Saint Vincent grabbed victories in each of its games this weekend besting Pitt Greensburg 7-3 and then dropping Wheeling Jesuit by a 6-5 margin. Friday night’s contest against the UPG Bobcats saw great goaltending by both teams, but UPG could not solve Sam Paquin’s 5 goal explosion or Stone Haberstroh’s 2 goal and 3 assist performance. Multiple points were also recorded by Adam Ferguson and Eli Reith with 3 and 2 assists respectively. In the home game on Sunday against the WJU Cardinals, SVC faced off against the best Cardinal team it has seen in the history of the two schools playing each other. Although the game lacked flow it made up for it in excitement. A sluggish Polar Bearcat squad languished through two periods as the beefier Cardinals kept trading scores in the first two frames, never trailing until Saint Vincent’s final goal. The WJU net minder consistently thwarted SVC’s efforts to take a lead until late in the third period. Eli Reith made a determined end to end rush from deep in his defensive zone and was trailed by Anthony Hogeback who deposited a shot behind the visiting team’s goalie for the winning score. Alex Ferraro was in net for each game.
Team Record for the Ages in Loss against WVU
A squad already depleted with manpower problems with several key players out of the line up, SVC dropped a 10-2 decision in an away contest with WVU. But there was a bright spot. Freshman goaltender Alex Ferraro had a game for the ages. As weak defensive zone coverage continued to haunt the green and gold, Alex made an incredible 100 saves on 110 shots taken by the Mountaineers. In spite of a huge advantage in shots, St. Vincent actually had several great scoring opportunities that were thwarted by the WVU net minder. Another milestone for SVC was Joe Moyer’s first goal set up on a slick passing play from Sam Paquin and Stone Haberstroh.
SVC has two games coming up this weekend, Friday night, November 3, against Pitt Greensburg will be an away game, though played at Center Ice Arena in Delmont, also home ice for UPG. Face off is set for 8:30 PM. The first home game will be Sunday, November 5, against Wheeling Jesuit. The puck drops at 2 PM.
Outstanding Goaltending Effort Waisted Against PS Altoona
Friday’s road contest against Penn State Altoona saw the Polar Bearcats waste a 61 save effort by freshman goaltender Alex Ferraro, dropping a 6-2 decision. The first year net-minder consistently frustrated the opposing skaters keeping SVC in the game late into the contest. The third period started with Altoona up 3-1. Saint Vincent had several early opportunities to narrow the score in the final frame but failed to convert when the opportunities were available. Poor defending gaps and soft defensive zone positioning plagued the green and gold throughout the contest. Sam Paquin, first period, and Stone Haberstroh, third period, scored for the visitors. Strong individual performances were turned in by Eli Reith on the blue line and Roman Lauff at forward.
Next up for SVC, another away contest, against the Mountaineers of WVU on Friday, October 27 at 7:30 PM.
SVC Bests Cal in Season Opener
The Polar Bearcats traveled to the Rostraver Ice Garden on Friday night to open the 2017-2018 campaign and skated off with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory. Sporting their new uniforms, the team dominated the first period of play as Sam Paquin opened the scoring followed by a Cam Ekiert goal from a close quarters battle in front of the Cal net. SVC controlled the play along the boards and showed some strong defensive work in both their zone and through center ice but could not stop Cal from getting a marker. As St Vincent controlled the first, Cal dominated the second as SVC was unable to maintain good defensive gaps in its own zone. The third period started 3-3 and remained that way as each team settled into chess match forcing overtime. With a little more than one minute into the 4:4 extra period, Sam Paquin and Stone Haberstroh created an odd man break. Paquin made a deft pass to Haberstroh who deked into the game winning tally.
Freshman goalie Alex Ferraro collected his first win and had an assist. Both Sam Paquin and Stone Haberstroh had 3 points. On the defensive side Eli Reith picked up a helper and several textbook open ice hits were delivered by freshman Isaac Pesicka, Waylon Murry, and Tanner Detesta.
With 9 rostered freshman, the team looks ready to move forward with its next game against Penn State Altoona, in Altoona, on Friday, October 27 at 5:25 PM in the Galactic Ice Center.
Web Master’s Note: Due to technical issues there will be a delay in posting the full schedule and scoring stats. The problem is currently being worked on. Mobile devices seem to have a more complete view of the web site than computer based internet connections.