Aston, Pa. – The Bryn Athyn College men's ice hockey team defeated #7 Richard Stockton, 12-2 to the 2014-15 Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference (DVCHC) National Divisional title Saturday night.
The Lions finished the season undefeated, 14-0 in all DVCHC conference games, including the conference tournament.
Bryn Athyn was led by three freshmen with four points each. Anthony Notofrancesco scored two goals and two assists. Anthony Astorino and Justin Nugent scored one goal and notched three assists. Terrence Johnson and Jordan Roth put up two goals and one assist. Jayson Marbach tallied two assists and one goal. Kyle Jennings turned in a two-point performance with two goals. Andrew Dexter registered one goal. Paul Napierkowski, Scott Witmyer, DJ Mulhern, and Alex Hyatt added one assist each in the triumph.
Astorino put the Lions on the board with a goal at the 17:30 mark of the first period, off a pass from Nugent. On the power play, with 5:03 left in the first period, Notofrancesco backhanded in the second goal of the game, off a rebound shot from Napierkowski to take a 2-0 lead into the second period.
Marbach scored to the start the second period at 18:12, off a pass from Notofrancesco, who skated down slot and dropped passed it Marbach. Stockton scored one of their two goals at the 12:55 mark to chip away at the Bryn Athyn 3-1 lead. Jennings answered with a goal a minute later to rebuild the three-goal lead. With less than two minutes in the second period, Johnson sniped in goal to build the Bryn Athyn lead to 5-1 going into the third period.
The Lions took control of the game in the third, scoring eight power play goals. Within a three-minute stand at 14:21, Nugent, Johnson and Notofrancesco all tallied goals for Bryn Athyn. The Ospreys scored their second goal, short handed at 10:07. Bryn Athyn replied with a goal from Jennings, unassisted at 8:54. Dexter scored for the Lions 30 seconds later from of the crease. Roth would score the last two goals for Bryn Athyn to win the conference title, 12-2.
Senior backstopper Kyle Watters made 52 saves in net for the Lions.
Bryn Athyn heads to Pelham, Alabama to compete in the 2015 ACHA D3 National Tournament. The Lions will face #4 Northern Colorado on March 10th at 7:30 pm at the Pelham Civic Complex, Pelham, AL.