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The Ice Hockey Club finished one game short of winning its third consecutive Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference title last weekend, losing to Temple in a best-of-three playoff series at Flyers Skate Zone in northeast Philadelphia.
The Leopards took Friday’s opener, 5-3, before losing 5-2 on Saturday and 7-3 on Sunday.
The team came out strong Friday, allowing just a few shots in the first period. Sean Lackey ’06 (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) scored two goals in the game, with biology major Pete McLane ’04 (Stowe, Ver.), art and English double major Ted Kapusta ’03 (Concord, N.H.), and government and law major James Haroldson ’03 (Kinnelon, N.J), who scored an empty net goal with 30 seconds left, chipping in one goal each.
With a desperate Temple seeking to stave off elimination, Lafayette came out flat in the second game on Saturday, never mounting a significant challenge to the Owls. Things began promisingly in Sunday’s rubber match, as Mark Battaglia ’06 (Wallingford, Pa.) staked the Leopards to a 1-0 lead in the first period. However, the floodgates opened in the second, with Lafayette letting in six goals. The Leopards mounted a comeback bid in the third, cutting the lead to 6-3, but a late Temple goal ended their dreams. McLane finished the game as high scorer for Lafayette with two goals.
Temple’s experience proved to be the difference, as the university took advantage of the five years of eligibility given to players. The Owls also had the advantage of playing close to home.
“The beauty for us is that we’ll only lose a couple seniors who played a lot,” says Kapusta. “St. Joe’s should be our main competition next year. We lost nine or ten key seniors last year, so this could have been an off year, but we had a lot of freshmen who came through for us. The future looks very good.”
Lafayette will return a strong defense next year, including goalie Steve Keen ’06 (Cleveland, Ohio), who started all three playoff games and most of the regular season contests.
The team finished the regular season ranked #11 in the Northeast division of the American Collegiate Hockey Association with a record of 15 wins, six losses, and one tie.