PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – The Elmira College Soaring Eagles Men’s Ice Hockey team skated to its largest margin of victory on the season to close out the New England Hockey Conference weekend, defeating Castleton 8-0 in its annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
It took the Soaring Eagles just over eight minutes for fans to launch their stuffed animals onto the ice as Janis Vizbelis ’24 scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season on an assist from Chance Gorman ’24. The score would go down as the eventual game-winner, as the Soaring Eagle defense and Kyle Curtin ’26 were able to shut down the Spartans, with Curtin making 30 saves in net.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 8, Castleton 0
LOCATION: Pine Valley, New York | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (7-4-0, 5-1-0 NEHC), Castleton (3-8-0, 2-4-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After a scoreless eight minutes, Vizeblis would score the first goal of the evening for the Soaring Eagles on an assist from Gorman at the 8:37 mark. Following cleanup of the stuffed animals which will be donated to the Catholic Charities of Elmira division prior to the holidays, Gorman would find the back of the net at the 16:08 mark on assists from Amedeo Mastrangeli ’24 and Ryan Reifler ’24.
In the second, Kerfalla Toure ’26 would join the scoring frenzy, unassisted, to put the Soaring Eagles ahead 3-0 before Gorman notched his second of the evening on a power play opportunity at the 15:27 mark in the second on assists from Reifler & Jordan Gonzalez ’24. For Gorman, the goal marked his fourth of the season.
The Soaring Eagle attack would conclude in the second period after Shawn Kennedy ’24 scored his first of two on the evening, assisted by Jake Russo ’23. With the Soaring Eagles leading 5-0 headed into the third, Curtin increased his save total to 17 despite Elmira being sent to the penalty box a staggering seven times.
In the third, EC captain Daniel Dimon ’24 would score his first of the season on assists from Mastrangeli & Toure just 1:47 into the period. From there, the Soaring Eagles would receive a pair of even-strength goals from Russo and Kennedy at the 6:03 and 14:29 marks, respectively, to conclude the scoring and send Elmira into the holiday’s with an 8-0 victory. On Russo’s goal, Kennedy and Brendan Schultz ’24 would be credited assists before Toure & Gonzalez earned assists on Kennedy’s goal.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold will return to the ice after the holiday break as it takes part in the Hockey Helpers Shootout at First Arena on December 30 & 31. Elmira will take on Salve Regina on Friday at 7:00 PM before matching up with Colby College on Saturday.
