Kat Virula
News Editor

On Saturday, September 14, the Millersville Ice Hockey team faced off against Saint Joseph, (St. Joe’s), in what would be a completely one-sided event. Unfortunately, St. Joe’s scored the last goal during the last period, defeating the Marauders offensively by the final score of 4-3. 

Early in the match, Pat McAteer and Dave Andrews both managed to score within one minute of each other. However, one minor penalty was placed on Andrews resulting in him going into the penalty box for the rest of period one. On the ensuing faceoff, with St. Joe’s trying to catch up, Dennis Kohajda marvelously skated through the defense and with Tyler Browne on the assist, scored the perfect shot. 

 Unfortunately, the lead soon diminished once St. Joe’s found their own streak. Midway through the first period, the Marauders suffered two key losses. Brandon Kays, who attempted to block a speeding shot and took a powerful check from St. Joe’s offense, injured his knee. Kays was forced to sit out for the remainder of the game. Trey Bruggeman, was called to the penalty box for misconduct of another player. Tensioned started to rise between the referees and fans in the stands. With their peers evidently down, the Marauders went even harder on the ice to increase their powerful stride to defeat St. Joe’s. 

Towards the end of the second period, intensity began to escalate among the two competitors. Andrews was called for another penalty, which lead to the power play for St. Joe’s. St. Joe’s could not afford to pass up the opportunity and scored to cut the Marauders’ lead, tying the game 3-3. St. Joe’s refused to give up and scored another goal, leading it into a final score of 4-3. 

Amidst the carnage, the game was captivating. Hayden Folfas, president of the ice hockey club, quoted, “Throughout the entire game we fell into some penalty trouble. However, as a team with a new identity, new players and a new coaching staff, the game went well for us. We as a team just need to correct some things on our end to put together a final product. Now is the time to be working on making these adjustments as we prepare for league games that start in mid-October. We need to get more pucks to the net and stay out of the penalty box, these are two things we can drastically improve on. The following players for us got points in tonight’s game. 2 of our goals were scored on the powerplay. We would also like to give a quick shoutout and thank you to all of the fans that came out to tonight’s game!” 

The Marauders next home game is this Saturday, September 21st at 5:00 p.m. where they go against the Naval Academy, at Lancaster Ice Rink.