PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – Behind a three-goal effort from Shawn Kennedy ’24 and a pair of goals each from Chance Gorman ’24 and Larry Niland ’23, the Elmira College men’s ice hockey program skated to a 9-1 victory over visiting New England College at the Murray Athletic Center on Friday night.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 9, New England College 1
LOCATION: Pine Valley, New York | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (13-10-1, 10-6-1 NEHC), New England College (10-13-1, 7-9-1 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles scored early and often to open the contest, as Niland delivered his first goal of the night at the 2:13 mark to give the Purple & Gold a 1-0 advantage over the Pilgrims. Nathan Young ’25 would be credited with the assist on Niland’s fourth goal of the season for Elmira. Ryan Reifler ’24 would make it 2-0 at the 3:31 mark of the frame as he found the back of the net with Nicholas Domitrovic ’24 getting credit for the helper.
Just 19 seconds following Reifler’s tally, Kennedy netted his first of three goals on the night to give Elmira a 3-0 advantage over the Pilgrims. Reifler and Brendan Schultz ’23 both helped to set up Kennedy’s tally for the Purple & Gold. With less than three minutes left to play in the first period, Kennedy tallied his second goal to make it 4-0 as Janis Vizbelis ’24 and Graham Denomme ’23 both added helpers.
Elmira would find the back of the net four more times in the second period to eventually extend its lead to 8-0 against NEC. Chance Gorman ’24 netted the first of back-to-back goals by himself for Elmira at the 3:43 mark before adding another at the 8:24 mark to make it 6-0 in favor of the Soaring Eagles. With Elmira down a skater midway through the frame, Niland would tally a short-handed strike at the 12:18 mark with the assists going to Nick Parody ’23 and Kerfalla Toure ’26.
Kennedy completed his hat trick for Elmira at the 14:47 mark of the second period as Schultz would help to set up the tally that extended EC’s advantage to 8-0. NEC would find its way onto the scoreboard at the 16:28 mark of the second period as Jhuwon Davis would find himself open in the slot to make it 8-1. Schultz tallied the lone goal of the third period for either side as his strike at the 17:12 mark would cap the scoring for Elmira to make it 9-1.
In net for the Soaring Eagles, Kyle Curtin ’26 stopped 23-of-24 shots that he faced on his way to improving to 9-6-0 this season for Elmira. With his two-goal performance for Elmira, Gorman extends his goal-scoring streak to six consecutive games for the Purple & Gold.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold return to the ice to honor the Class of 2023 on Saturday with a matchup against nationally ranked Norwich beginning at 4:00 P.M.
