Lancers settle for three straight ties

by Larry Austin
Grand Island Dispatch, January 13, 2006

Evan Moynihan of Southwestern scores over a sprawling Richard Brosius of Lewiston-Porter during last Sunday's 2-2 at Niagara University’s Dwyer Arena. (photo by Larry Austin)

Lew-Port is fit to be tied after three straight draws in club hockey action this week.

The Lancers tied Southwestern/Maple Grove twice 2-2 in a home-and-home doubleheader last Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesday, Lew-Port tied City Honors 3-3 to settle their record at 4-5-3.

Last Sunday, the Lancers jumped ahead 1-0 when Frank Faso scored from beside the net at 6:39 of the first period from Scott Beseth and Dom Muto. Doug Weaver of Southwestern tied the game at 1-1 on an assist from Jamie Cirbus at 8:08 of the second period.

Evan Moynihan beat a sprawling Richard Brosius to put Southwestern up 2-1 with 1:40 remaining in the period. Lew-Port’s best opportunity to score came when Tyler Magliazzo had a breakaway four minutes into the third period, but he was denied by Southwestern goalie Brad Barmore.

Magliazzo had a second breakaway chance with 5:17 left and made the most of it, tying the game at 2-2. Assists went to Matt Andrews and Ryan Clayton.

Lew-Port goalie Brosius preserved the tie with two big stops with 1:42 remaining, one from directly in front of net on a rebound.

Lew-Port head coach Anders Johansson, who was suspended for the second Southwestern game, watched the contest from across the rink in the Dwyer Arena. Club hockey rules suspend the head coaches if their teams exceed a penalty minute threshold.

Johansson said his team took 15 minutes in penalties when “mayhem” broke out at the end of the Saturday game in Jamestown. That left assistant coach Max Coykendall to run the club on Sunday.

Though the Lancers took avoided defeat in both weekend games, they were hoping for more. Southwestern is near the bottom of the standings in the Small School West division, while Lew Port is in the middle of the pack in Small School East.

“It is disappointing,” Johansson said Sunday. “We should have been able to beat this team. We played flat.

“It doesn’t kill us. We got two out of a possible four points over the weekend, but it’s disappointing.”

Southwestern was 0-6-2 before playing the Lancers.

“Yesterday was the same thing. We had to come from behind,” Johansson said of Saturday’s game. “Penalties killed us. We had 15 penalties yesterday. Two days in a row we were fortunate to come out with the tie.”

“There’s no way we should only score two goals on that team,” Coykendall said. “There was no intensity.”

“The thing is, we play down toward opponents,” Johansson said. “We play better against some of the tougher teams, and this was just an example.”

The tougher teams are next on the Lancers’ schedule. Lew-Port plays Maryvale tomorrow at Dwyer Arena. The Flyers beat the Lancers 6-2 earlier in the year.

“It’s a cause tough way to start the season, but we’re still in the hunt to make the playoffs,” Johansson said.