Center Grady Little readies a shot versus GMU.

Early in the morning of Sunday, Oct. 10 at the Ashburn Ice House, NOVA ice hockey’s defenseman Colin Milford scored a sudden death overtime goal with 2:05 remaining to shock the George Mason Patriots, 3-2 before a goodnight owl crowd, with a game that began at 10:30 p.m.

One might think the regulation game might have been anticlimactic in comparison with this exciting ending, but not so as the game in regulation time was close and hard-fought with strong defensive play predominating and both goalies making excellent saves.

In period one, NOVA came out in strong contrast to the previous evening’s first period, firing a barrage of pucks at the GMU goalie, outshooting GMU 18-4.

Unfortunately, none of them went in.

On the other hand, some of NOVA’s play wasn’t too smart, like the two-minute penalties with 15:43 and 15:00 minutes to go, giving GMU a five-to-three man advantage. After less than a minute, GMU took advantage, scoring from about 20 feet out to the left of the goal to go up 1-0. Thus it took GMU only four shots to take their 1-0 left after the first period.

At the beginning of the second period, NOVA decided they had had enough of this inequity, and wing Ricky Davidson scored after just eight seconds from the opening tip-off to tie the game 1-1. Then, at the 18:03 mark, Davidson again scored, directly in front of the goal, after nifty passes from Richard Whitney and Grady Little to make it NOVA 2-1. GMU took a timeout to regroup.

The rest of the period saw shots about equal to each other’s.

At the 6:45 mark of the second period, GMU was penalized for squashing wing James Powers in front of their goal, which left him a bit dazed.

After he recovered, he was allowed a one-on-one situation against the GMU goalie, starting from mid-rink. But he was not able to outmaneuver the GMU goalie up close, and no goal was scored.

In an interesting play by GMU with 4:30 left, with GMU a man up and the puck going down towards the NOVA goal, the GMU goalie suddenly left the ice and another GMU player rushed onto the ice on the offensive end, giving GMU a five-on-three advantage. This play lasted for only about 10 seconds as NOVA was quickly called for a penalty. GMU had not scored, and the GMU goalie returned to his goal. Even then, GMU was not able to take score during the 1:17 time when it had the subsequent two man advantage.

The third period saw NOVA outshooting GMU 18-15 but unable to take advantage of a short-lived five-on-three situation, as neither of the defenses allowed a goal, so the score was 2-2 after regulation.

The five-minute sudden death overtime saw both teams penalized early on but with neither scoring. With a little over two minutes to go, NOVA intercepted the puck at mid-rink, the puck was passed on to Milford, who had gotten past a GMU player. He skated towards the GMU goal, unleashing a shot from about 10 feet in front of the goal that eluded the GMU goalie, ending the game and sending the NOVA team into a jubilant meeting on the ice, just before 1 a.m.

After the game, a happy coach Barrett Haga remarked, “After a rough road loss yesterday, it was just a big win for us. I think we’re tied for first in our division. It’s great seeing the vets coming out. Our goalie [Joseph Aronhime] played very well today. Bishop almost put one in, and Olivia Gonzalez almost had one. We had some new captains today. It worked out well. It was a barnburner.”

JMU Wins Earlier Game

On Oct. 8, the NOVA team traveled to Charlottesville to the Main Street Arena to take on James Madison’s team. While the team member’s peers were enjoying dining outdoors along the historic downtown Main Street and partying or going to the movies on a very pleasant evening, the NOVA team had to suit up in the cold arena for a 9:40 p.m. hockey game.

NOVA played the first period like it wished it were partying on Main Street. It took almost eight minutes for its first shot on goal, as its offense was about non-existent. JMU was dominant, scoring at 13:33, taking a 1-0 lead. Despite JMU’s dominance, the score still stood at 1-0 until the 3:19 mark when JMU scored again even though it was a man down. It then scored again with 2:12 left on a close-in goal to go up 3-0 at the end of the period. JMU outshot NOVA 21-6 for the period.

Though NOVA was down by three, there was still hope due to the memory of their falling behind JMU 6-1 in the same game last year and coming back for an exciting 7-6 win.

There were thoughts of that comeback occurring again as #7 scored for NOVA after he went single-handedly against the JMU goalie after just six seconds of the second period had elapsed.

Unfortunately, NOVA was unable to score again in the period and JMU scored once to make it 4-1, as the play was fairly even during the period.

The third period saw NOVA narrow the margin to 4-2, but GMU quickly came back on a power play goal at 11:42, which ended the night’s scoring as JMU took a 5-2 win. Periods 2 and 3 were fairly even, but JMU owned the first period.

The loss was NOVA’s first of the year, while JMU went to 2-0, 1-0 in the conference.

NOVA Loses Close One to ODU

In a Friday night game, Oct. 15 at Iceland in Virginia Beach, NOVA took a 2-0 lead after the first period versus Colonial Division Old Dominion University. ODU rebounded to lead 3-2 after period 2. The third period saw NOVA rally to tie the score at 4-4, but ODU scored the game winner with 3:01 left.

It was a tough loss for NOVA. However, ODU’s story on the game noted “a vastly improved NOVA team.”

By: Arch Scurlock

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