12/8/2011 12:16 PM 

Friday Night UMBC took on Penn St in a highly anticipated matchup in the ACHA Southeast region. UMBC earned a power play in the first minute, what seemed like a good omen; but thing went downhill from there. A miscue at the offensive blue line led to a shorthanded rush by the Ice Lions and a rebound goal gave them a 1-0 lead. Penn St continued to put pressure on the UMBC defense and another turnover, this time in the defensive zone gave Penn St a 2-0 lead after the first period.

UMBC played better in the second period, and worked the puck around for some quality scoring chances but were unable to get a goal. Early in the third however, UMBC freshman forward Tyler Novielli (Fair Lawn, NJ) flew up thew boards and unloaded a slap shot that found the back of the net to cut the Penn St lead in half. UMBC applied pressure the rest of the way, earned a couple power play opportunities but could not find an equalizer. Penn St sealed the victory with an empty net goal in the final minute minute, giving the Ice Lions a 3-1 victory. Goaltender Jon Drago (Guttenberg, NJ) kept UMBC in the game making key saves throughout, making 35 in total. Penn St outshot UMBC 38-23 on the night.

Saturday afternoon the Retrievers looked to rebound against arch-rival Temple. UMBC carried play throughout, but a hot goalie would be their demise. The first period went by scoreless with the Retrievers outshooting the Owls 18-8. The second period saw Temple open the scoring when a long routine shot snuck under the arm of Drago and trickled across the goal line to give Temple the 1-0 lead. On the enuing face-off, captain Nik Jost (Grosse Point Park, MI) had the puck sneak by him and give the Temple forward a breakaway, the Owls converted giving them a 2-0 lead just six seconds after they opened the scoring. UMBC would continue to dominate play from that point on, outshooting Temple 37-18 after two periods, but still trailed 2-0.

The third period opened with UMBC on a 5 on 3 power play, freshman Matt Bloom (Ellicott CIty, MD) recieved a perfect pass and one-timed the puck past the Temple netminder to cut the lead to 2-1 just fifteen seconds into the final frame. From there UMBC kept pouring on the chances but to no avail. A turnover in transition with just under 3 minutes left led to a perfect shot that hit the crossbar and went in, giving Temple a 3-1 lead. UMBC would not give up as just over a minute later Bloom took a pass at the side of the net and scored his 2nd of the game with just under two minutes to play. UMBC put on a mad rush at the end but was unable to tie the score, giving Temple a 3-2 win despite UMBC outshooting the Owls 51-23. It was the first time UMBC lost back to back games in almost a year, the last instance coming last January with back to back losses to Kentucky and Virginia Tech.

Sunday Morning the Retrievers were up at dawn to start a new day and get back on the right track against Rowan. The first period played out much like it did the day before; UMBC dominated the play and heavily outshot their opponent, but came away with nothing and ended scoreless. Early in the second period however, it would be the defense providing the offense and a captain putting the team on his back.

On a power play in the opening minutes of the middle stanza, Captain Jost walked the puck in from the half boards and put a wrist shot short side to give the Retrievers a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, on another power play, from almost the same spot; Jost scored his second goal of the game when his attempted pass was deflected by a Rowan defenseman past his goaltender. After killing off a 5 on 3 and pressure from the Profs trying to get back into the game, Jost rushed the puck up ice, found Bloom, who the layed the puck back for Junior Taylor Morgan (Sewell, NJ) who ripped a slapshot by the goalie to give UMBC a 3-0 lead. As the period winded down, Jost figured he should get one more for good measure, he jumped into the play in transition and called for the puck, Bloom found him in the high slot where Jost proceed to take one stride then put the puck right under the bar glove side for his first collegiate hat-trick and fourth point of the night, sending the Retrievers into the locker room up 4-0.

From then on it was all Rowan, at least territorily. UMBC did a good job of keeping the puck to the outside and down behind the net where Rowan couldnt develop and real scoring threat. The Profs did score one when the puck found itself loose in the crease and the Rowan player put it up over Drago to cut the lead to 4-1, but that was all he would yield. UMBC would get their chances in the period but wernt able to get the puck to the net as shots and passes were blocked or deflected away. The final buzzer sounded and UMBC came away with a much needed 4-1 victory. Drago made 43 saves for his ninth win of the season.

The power play converted on 3 of 13 opportunities over the weeked placing the season efficiency at 28.57% while the penalty kill extended it streak of consecutive penalties killed to 28 with a 12 for 12 performance putting the effectiveness on the season at 89.47%. UMBC is next in action Dec 10 v Kentucky and Dec 11 v Maryland both games at the Riesterstown sportsplex and can be heard on HerbFM.