Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Sacred Heart
Army Wins Home Opener
October 19, 2012 | Hockey
Oct. 19, 2012
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Andy Starczewski scored three times and Rob Tadazak made 25 saves as Army won its first game of the season, 5-2, over Sacred Heart, Friday night in an Atlantic Hockey Association contest at Tate Rink.
Army jumped out to a 2-0 lead and then closed the game with three goals to win its home-opener.
Zak Zaremba and Brian Schultz also scored for the Black Knights, now 1-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in league play. Cheyne Rocha, John Clark, Willie Faust, R.J. Burns, Joe Kozlak and Maurice Alvarez all earned assists
Tadazak allowed just two second-period goals and won his first collegiate game. He made eight stops in the first, 13 in the second and four in the final period.
Starczewski netted his second career hat trick and pushed his career total of goals to 31. The five goals is the most Army has scored since netting six on Feb. 18, 2011 against AIC, a span of 39 games.
Army opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the game. Rocha broke up a pass in the Army end of the ice and Clark collected the loose puck. He then fed Zaremba who carried the puck inside the blue line and snapped off his first goal of the season for a 1-0 Army lead at 19:31. It was the first assist of the season for Clark and Rocha and extended Zaremba’s scoring streak to three straight games. It was also the second straight season Zaremba has scored on his first shift.
The Black Knights extended their lead to 2-0 when Starczewski collected his first goal of the season. He corralled a loose puck near the blue line, took a few strides and fired in the 29th goal of his career. It marked the third straight game he has a point
Sacred Heart, though, responded with a pair of goals to tie the game at two after two periods. Kyle Verbeek and Ben Lake each scored to knot the contest after 40 minutes.
Starczewski put Army back on top to stay in the third period. He followed up a Faust shot with his second goal of the game 1:41 into the final period.
Schultz made it a 4-2 Army lead with his first of the season, converting passes from Burns and Kozlak midway through the session.
Starczewski closed the scoring with an empty-net tally with two minutes left to play off of an Alvarez assist. His first hat trick came on Nov. 5, 2011 at RIT.
Tadazak meanwhile earned his first win in his 12th start.
Army will conclude its weekend series with Sacred Heart, Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Milford Ice Pavilion.
GAMES NOTES: Army wore its gold sweaters … Army’s starting lineup consisted of Brian Schultz, R.J. Burns and Zak Zaremba with Cheyne Rocha and John Clark on defense and Rob Tadazak in net … Tadazak made his 12th career start … Army freshmen R.J. Burns, Willie Faust, Thane Heller, Shane Hearn, Joe Kozlak, Andrew O’Leary, Kyle Vogel, Josh Roberts, Christian Pomarico, Luke Jenkins and Jonathan Gehrt made their Tate Rink debuts …Col. Wiley Thompson of the Geography Department, served as Officer Representative.
ARMY 5, SACRED HEART 2
SHU 0-2-0--2
ARMY 1-1-3--5
First Period:
ARMY – Zaremba (Rocha, Clark), 00:29
Second Period:
ARMY – Starczewski (unassisted), 2:36
SHU – Verbeek (Sheehan), 8:45
SHU – Lake (Curry, Bonner), 18:10
Third Period:
ARMY – Starczewski (Faust) 1:41
ARMY – Schultz (Burns, Kozlak), 8:24
ARMY – Starczewski (Alvarez), 17:52
Shots: Sacred Heart 27 (8-15-4); Army 28 (9-6-13)
Saves: Sacred Heart 23 (Legatto, 59:48, 8-5-10; empty net, 00:12); Army 25 (Tadazak, 60:00, 8-13-4)
Power Plays: Sacred Heart, 0-1; Army, 0-4
Penalties: Sacred Heart, 5-18; Army, 1-2
Attendance: 1,253
