By Dave Diamond
SYOSSET, N.Y.–When a hockey team finishes a game with only four available skaters along with its back-up goaltender, odds are the highlights are less than ordinary. Hofstra head coach Ian Clugston stood on a lonely bench-literally-when the final buzzer sounded ending Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to Fordham.
Eight Pride ice hockey players were ejected with game misconduct penalties after an on-ice incident broke out in front of the Hofstra net. After Fordham scored the eventual game-winner with 5:20 to play in the third period, Pride goaltender George Lorenz took exception to the Rams celebration within his crease. When Lorenz and four Fordham players became involved in a physical altercation, the Pride players reacted instinctively.
“We were in the middle of coming off and other guys were coming on the ice, and we looked back and saw [the altercation] so everyone rushed over,” Pride captain Steve Wagner recalled. “And it ended up being two lines of us instead of one.”
With a line change taking place after the goal, Hofstra had no players on the ice to defend their goaltender. In a state of confusion, at least eight Pride players rushed off the bench and mobbed the group of Rams swarming Lorenz. As a result, 12 players in total were ejected and, for Hofstra, two very important players (Lorenz, Joe Balabous) will be lost for two games. Any disciplinary action for the Rams’ players involved is unknown.
“Fordham has a reputation for not being the classiest of organizations, which is why they’ve been in trouble a lot this year,” Clugston said. “They decided to celebrate inside the crease and you can’t do that around George. You can’t do that around any goalie.”
The entire situation was extremely unfortunate considering some very good hockey was being played in the prior minutes. In fact, the Pride answered back from a 2-0 first period deficit when they took a 3-2 lead 17:55 into the second period in exciting fashion.
Rob Yawman was hooked and unable to get a clean shot off when coming in a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot. Yawman made good on his opportunity, deeking the Rams’ goaltender and going top shelf for the go-ahead goal that the Pride hoped would have been the highlight of the evening.
Instead, Hofstra found some misfortune midway through the third. After killing a 5-on-3 disadvantage, Lorenz let the tying goal trickle through his pads into the net. It would be one of the final shots Lorenz faced before the scrum.
After order was restored, the Pride not only found itself trailing 4-3, but with a player serving a penalty for the remainder of the game, Hofstra only had four players to hold off the Rams’ power-play as well as attempting to tie the game. This meant there would be no line changes for the Pride for over five minutes, almost unheard of in hockey. Despite understanding his team’s response, Clugston was very displeased with the altercation.
Clugston’s anger is certainly warranted, as this was an extremely important game in both the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) and, on a national scale, the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) standings. The MCHC loss is most alarming because the Pride is currently ninth in the conference. Eight teams make the playoffs.
Hofstra and SUNY Farmingdale are tied with 14 points, but the Pride has played one more game, an extra loss, giving Farmingdale the extra advantage. Though the team’s hopes of nationals faded some time ago, Fordham does have the opportunity to overtake Hofstra and jump into the top ten in the ACHA DIII Atlantic Rankings.
“We’ve got a game to win, and that’s where their mindset needs to be,” Clugston said. “I don’t say much to the team after something like that. I tell them I’m disappointed, it was such an important game and it was so close, I felt like we could have tied the game at any time.”