Two nail-biting Marquette victories

Kevin Kenealy
Online Interactive Editor

After taking the collective 18-8 beating against Robert Morris Springfield, Eastern's club hockey team picked up two big nail-biting victories versus Marquette at Danville's David S. Palmer Arena.

Trailing 3-2 at the start of the third period, Eastern's 'd' fence stepped up big, allowing no scoring in the next 7.5 minutes of play; a Nick Maggio save on a Marquette breakaway kept the deficit close down the stretch.

"You know it came right after Maggio stopped the breakaway and we had to score to keep our playoff hopes alive," Dave Fitz, Eastern hockey president/captain said. "They score that breakaway goal, that could have put us down big time,"

But it was a Bob Marshall, off the read from other defenseman Wally Ulriech's pass that finally tied the game at three with about four minutes left. The shot ricocheted down off the pads of Marquette's goalie and flew back towards the net for a brief celebration on the ice.

The intensity level came at the right time as within the next minute and a half, a Kevin Kraus and Chris Bennett assist to freshman Danny Delvecchio gave Eastern the lead, and the momentum for the rest of the game.

The 4-3 lead wasn't enough to satisfy Eastern's hunger, however. With 1:34 left to play Jon Koeler hit a nail in the coffin shot just outside the crease, to which one fan exclaimed, "Now it's time for that fat lady to start singin'."

"Last four minutes we really had to show ourselves if we wanted to make a run for the playoffs," said senior defenseman Gavin Wilk. "Magg made that stop on the breakaway and I think it was Koeler that scored one and then Delvecchio came up big, put us in the lead, keeping our playoff dreams alive."

Control of the puck in the closing minutes mixed with Eastern's intensity level paved way for the 5-3 Saturday victory. It was something that Head Coach Cameron Estes would like to see more of throughout the entire game, but is happy to have the victories.

"Came out, we were down after the first down after [the] second; what do you do," he said. "We found a way in the last couple of minutes."

The two wins put Eastern 9-5 on the season, but will have tough match-ups against University of Kentucky at Lexington and University of Missouri as their next challenges.