Archbishop Ryan Raiders

Game Summary provided by the Plum Hockey Club - DELMONT The Plum Mustangs came into this game brimming with confidence after a 7-1 thrashing of Butler Monday evening. The Gateway Gators, victimized by a tough early schedule, were looking for their first win of this young season. It was Plum who rode the wave of Monday's victory into the first period, jumping all over Gateway and dominating the early play. Just 1:08 into the opening frame, Plum Junior Ben Colosmo hit the post to the right of the Gator goalie Anthony Kuhn, and fellow Junior Chad Covol knocked in the rebound to give Plum the early lead. Junior Andy Weston also assisted on the goal. With 8:07 to go in the first, Plum Sophomore Anthony DaDamo took a pass at the left point from Sophomore Anthony Sciulli and wristed a puck that eluded Kuhn and found the net to give Plum a 2-0 advantage to take into the second period. Plum outshot Gateway 10-5 in the first period. At 7:56 of the second period, Sciulli found a loose puck in front of the Gator cage and fired it home for his first goal of the season. Senior Matt Giunta and Colosmo earned assists on the goal. With only 1:43 remaining in the second, Gateway's Joe Hudec took advantage of a Plum turnover and blistered a shot at the Mustangs' Sophomore goalie, John Bronder, who appeared to make the save and cover the puck in the crease; but Hudec was credited with the goal to pull the Gators to within two. It appeared that the second period would end that way, but the Mustangs came right back with 20 seconds on the clock with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play that Junior Shawn O'Connor was the beneficiary of, tapping the puck past the sprawling Kuhn to restore Plum's three-goal cushion. Seniors Jonathan Smith and Giunta picked up the helpers on O'Connor's second goal of the season. In the third period, it was the Gators who came out firing on all cylinders. Plum took two minor penalties within 27 seconds of each other and was forced to kill off a 5-on-3 power play for 1:33. Only two minutes after killing those penalties, the Mustangs did it again, this time taking two minors within 18 seconds of each other. The Gators used their time out, and it paid off when Matt Pisani tipped in a shot on the ensuing 5-on-3 at 7:33 to make the score 4-2. Gateway continued to force the play, outshooting Plum 9-0 in the first 11 minutes of the third period. The Gators' hard work was rewarded with 4:28 to go in the game when Pisani took a slick pass out from behind the Mustang net and one-timed the puck past Bronder to make it a one goal game. The Gators were then whistled down on an interference penalty with 2:43 left on the clock and were forced to kill this off before pulling Kuhn for the extra attacker with 30 seconds left. With time running out, DaDamo stole the puck at his own blue line and fired a 130 foot shot into the center of the open net to seal the 5-3 victory for the Mustangs. Gateway outshot Plum 28-27 on the evening.