Gettysburg wins season opener against Dickinson 8 -6

Say it IS so Joe!

 

September 21, 2015

 

The 2015-16 Gettysburg hockey season opened with great anticipation and excitement, but question marks.  The excitement and anticipation were well founded and the question marks answered, as Gettysburg bested Dickinson 8-6.  If you looked strictly at the shot totals, you would have thought that Dickinson crushed Gettysburg, with the final shot totals being 55-28 (Dickinson-Gettysburg).  However, sophomore goalie Tom Pelchat stood tall with a 49 save effort.  It took the offense a little while to get going, being that new line combinations and defensive pairings were the order of the day.  Dickinson jumped out early.  26 seconds into the game a scramble in front put Dickinson up 1-0.  It was then followed at the 7:25, 3:14 and 2:01 marks by goals from freshman Chris Williams, sophomore Joe Stancato and senior John Baum. 

 

The second period started with Gettysburg scoring three more times.  With her first collegiate goal, senior Madison Hill put the Bullets up 4-1.  Shortly after, came goals by assistant captain freshman Colin Hetherington and the second tally of the night from #14, Joe Stancato.   This made the score 6-1 and woke up Dickinson, who scored three goals in the final eight minutes of period 2, to close the gap to 6-4. 

 

The third period stayed that way until the 13 minute mark, when Colin Hetherington cashed in on his second goal of the night, widening the score to 7-4.  Eight minutes later, senior Mike Booz tapped in a rebound to give Gettysburg an 8-4 lead, capably assisted on the play by #27, Madison Hill.  At the two minute mark, Dickinson got a lucky goal after Tom Pelchat had made two saves on the play.  A minute later, Dickinson pulled their goalie and with the man advantage made the score 8-6.  Gettysburg called time with 44 seconds remaining to give the troops a breather, and to plan out running out the clock.  Before a stunned crowd at Twin Ponds West, the building was silent as Gettysburg came away with the victory.  Led by Joe Stancato’s four point night and the first two goals of Colin Hetherington’s college career, the Bullets returned home 1 and 0 to face American University next Friday at 8 p.m.