Feasterville Recap - Winter Break

Both the D1 and DIII teams traveled to Feasterville, Pennsylvania again for their last round of play before winter break. Both DI and DIII teams combined for a record of 6-2-0 on the weekend, thus resulting in a successful weekend. Many of the wins by both DI and DIII teams were convincing wins, such as DIII's win over Stony Brook 17-1.

Location of Feasterville, PA in relation to Philadelphia, PA

The DI team began the weekend with a convincing win over the University of Rhode Island 12-2. Going into the first game of the weekend, Rhode Island was 2-7-0 on the year so Slippery Rock was heavily favored in this one. The Rock was led by junior Christian Scott who recorded 1 goal, 7 assists for a total of 8 points including two really pretty goals in which he carried the puck all the way up the rink twice.  J.D. Gazella also factored in on the scoring, recording four of Slippery Rock's 12 goals on the day.
 

The second game of the weekend out of four game came against  Rowen University.

Coming into the game, Rowan University was 3-6-1 including tying a good Farmingdale team by a score of 0-0. The Rock was led by Chris Allison who recorded a hat trick (three goals) in the game, as well as senior Tyler Sheppard who recorded two goals and two assists. Overall it was a dominant performance by The Rock. They'd need a win like this going in to a game against last year's National Champions Neumann University.

Neumann absolutely dominated The Rock in their third game of the weekend by a score of 12-2. Going into the game, Neumann was 10-0 and improved to 11-0 with their win over Slippery Rock. PJ Dimartino carried Neumann, recording five goals and one assist for a total of six points on the day. The Rock would look to rebound against a good Temple team in their last game of the weekend.

After allowing a goal late in the third period to force overtime, Slippery Rock quickly capitalized in overtime to take the 6-5 victory. Chris Allison recorded the game winner in overtime to give The Rock a 3-1 overall record on the weekend and an 8-3 record on the season. Overall The Rock sits third in the standings behind undefeated Neumann (12-0-0) and Farmingdale (9-4-0). They are off until after Christmas break when they resume play in January. 

The DIII team also had a good weekend going (3-1-0). Their first game was against North Eastern University who was coming off a 9-0 win over Stony Brook. The Rock was able to dominate North Eastern all game thanks in part to defenseman Robby Fedorchak who recorded a hat trick and tallied an assist in the 11-2 win.

The Rock's next game was against Stony Brook, who they handled last time, beating them 15-1. Stony Brook was 0-9 coming into the year looking for their first win, and it is safe to say that they did not get it. Stony Brook went on to go 0-4 on the weekend and fall to 0-11 overall, still looking for their first win. The Rock dominated thanks in part to first year player Tyler Lutz, who recorded three goals and two assists as well as junior Ryan Martire, who recorded four goals on the day.

The Rock's third game of the weekend came against the Neumann DIII team. Going into the game, Neumann's DIII team was also undefeated (10-0-0), but The Rock almost found a way to hand Neumann their first loss. Led again by Robby Fedorchak who recorded four more goals on the weekend, The Rock battled hard all game but came up just short. Neumann's Nick Foster recorded his third goal of the game, and the game winner in overtime to keep Neumann undefeated on the season. 

DIII's final game of the weekend came against Rowan University. DIII had not played Rowan yet going into the game so this was their first real look at the Rowan team. The Rock took the game 6-3, thanks in part to Tyler Lutz's hat trick and junior defenseman Zach Rapp's three assists on the day.

As mentioned above, both Rock teams combined to go (6-2-0) on the weekend, losing both games to last year's National Champions Neumann University. Both DI and DIII teams have winter break now and will resume play in January. Be sure to follow the ECRHA for stats and updates regarding Slippery Rock's #RoadToNattys (National Championship). 

One final note, #JerseyWatch is over for the travel teams. Both teams received their jerseys before traveling to Feasterville, so everyone is happy again. 

Grove City Recap

Last weekend, both Slippery Rock Inline teams were home in the only inline tournament of the year held at the Grove City Y.M.C.A.. The D1 team played host to West Chester and Farmingdale, two teams in which they saw in the preseason. The DIII team hosted Hofstra and Farmingdale, both of which they saw in preseason play as well. Both teams began the season splitting the four game tournament, both going 2-2.

Grove City Y.M.C.A. rink this weekend, during DIII play

 Overall, D1 was very inconsistent this weekend. For a team that could have gone 4-0 on the weekend, a split was somewhat disappointing. After starting off with a 7-4 win over West Chester, led by junior Christian Scott with 2 goals and 1 assist, the team fell apart the next game losing 11-5 to Farmingdale. The Rock actually out shot Farmingdale the whole game 29-22 but still, 11 goals on 22 shots was disheartening to see. The D1 quickly regrouped and won the next game, a nail-biter to West Chester 9-8. The D1 concluded the first weekend of regular season with a 6-0 shutout loss to Farmingdale. Forward Christopher Sharkey of Farmingdale recorded a hat trick (three goals) in the win over The Rock. 

Box scores this weekend courtesy of ECRHA.net

Game 1: West Chester

Game 2: Farmingdale

Game 3: West Chester

Game 4: Farmingdale

As mentioned before, the DIII team also split the weekend, going 2-2 losing both games against Farmingdale, and beating Hofstra twice. The scheduling was definitely in favor of Farmingdale however due to the fact that they were only playing their second game of the weekend while Slippery Rock was playing their fourth and last game of the weekend. 

DIII won their first game over Hofstra 6-4, led by Dom Civitella and Ryan Martire who combined for 3 goals and 1 assist in the contest. The second game over Farmingdale came down to the wire after The Rock was trailing 3-1 at the end of the first. DIII crawled their way back into the game but it was not enough as The Rock fell 8-7 to Farmingdale. Game three however was a game that looked over at the end of the second period, but ended in favor of The Rock. After being down 6-3 going to the third period, the boys scored four unanswered goals and pulled a 7-6 win over Hofstra. The Rock was led by defenseman Robby Fedorchak, who tallied 1 goal and 2 assists in the contest. DIII's final game, the one in which Farmingdale was only playing their second game of the weekend, saw SRU fall 5-2. Tied 2-2 at the end of the second period, Farmingdale scored three unanswered goals in the third and held on to beat The Rock.

Box scores from DIII, courtesy of ECRHA.net

Game 1: Hofstra

Game 2: Farmingdale

Game 3: Hofstra

Game 4: Farmingdale

 This weekend the D1 team will travel to New Cumberland, PA to play against West Chester, Temple and Hofsta. Realistically, the DI team could come home 3-0 on the weekend and be in a very good spot standings wise. The DIII will not travel until the weekend of November 21st, when they head to Feasterville, PA to play against North Eastern, Stony Brook, Neumann, and Rowan University. 

Stay tuned for the latest SRU Inline Hockey news, and be sure to follow @sruinlinehockey  on Twitter and visit ECRHA.net to get up-to-date stats on The Rock and other inline clubs. 

#JerseyWatch is still going on, stay tuned to see if they ever get their jerseys

Preseason Weekend Roundup

Both travel teams went to Feasterville, Pennsylvania last weekend which is just north of Philadelphia to compete in the ECRHA's (Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association) preseason tournament. Slippery Rock's D1 and DIII teams combined for a record of 5-1 on the weekend, thus concluding a great preseason. This weekend is designed for teams to bring a number of players along in attempts to try out different combinations, work on special teams like powerplays and penalty killing, as well as making some difficult roster decisions in terms of who to cut, who starts, etc.

Feasterville's rink

Feasterville's location in relation to Philadelphia

Slippery Rock's Division I team went perfect during preseason (3-0), outscoring opponents 

24-7. Their wins came against Northeastern University, Rhode Island and Hofstra University. For Slippery Rock's DI team, going perfect on the weekend was especially good considering they added four new faces to the lineup this season. The D1 team now is now loaded offensively with both Scott brothers. Younger brother Dillion transferred from RMU to Slippery Rock this season and will now join his brother Christian on the D1 team.

DI's first game an 8-2 win over Northeastern

DI's second game an 8-5 win over Rhode Island

D1's final game, an 8-0 shutout over Hofstra

   On the horizon for D1, they open the regular season this weekend in a tournament at home in Grove City, Pennsylvania. They will face West Chester and Farmingdale University both twice. The D1 team will face a good West Chester team, both coming off going undefeated in the preseason. Slippery Rock should be able to beat Farmingdale, who went 2-1 during preseason weekend. Farmingdale did tie 0-0 with an average Rowan team, so judging by preseason The Rock should have the advantage.

DI's games are on Saturday at 9:00AM, 1:00PM, 5:00PM, and 8:00PM at the Grove City YMCA. 

The DIII team went 2-1 on the weekend beating both Northeastern and Stony Brook (actually demolishing Stonybrook), and losing to the highly talented Neumann University. Neumann's DIII team won it all last year and that team is definitely favored to go far again this year.

DIII's first game, a 6-4 win over Northeastern University

DIII's second game, a 15-1 rout of Stony Brook

DIII's final preseason game, a 10-1 loss to the very talented Neumann University

DIII defenseman Mathew Flannery discussed last weekend's preseason games and how he thinks the team did: "I feel like we did pretty well for the lineup we brought with us, especially since two of the players on our roster didn't make the trip, one of which being a key player who returned from last year's roster," Flannery said. 

"North Eastern put up a fight against us and the Stony Brook game was a joke", Flannery said. When asked about the loss to Neumann University Flannery said, "We let in four goals on the first four shots which killed us mentally for the rest of the game, even with a goalie switch after those four goals." 

Defenseman Mathew Flannery winds up for a slapshot 

Defenseman Zach Rapp was also a key factor in jumpstarting the DIII offense last weekend, scoring two hat tricks (three goals in one game) in the first two games. 

The DIII team will also be at home in Grove City, PA this weekend as they are set to face both Hofstra and Farmingdale University again. Because of the highly talented offense DIII presents, they could escape this weekend going 4-0. DIII's games are on Saturday at 8:00AM, 12:00PM, 4:00PM, and 7:00PM at the Grove City YMCA

The big exciting news other than the regular season beginning this weekend is #JerseyWatch. The Rock's jerseys are still not in yet and the season is just four days away. So be sure to follow @SRUInlineHockey to see live up to the second tweets regarding jerseys and this weekend's games. 

#JerseyWatch

Be sure to visit ECRHA website for stats and scores

Intro to Inline & SRU's Program

  For those of you who are new to inline hockey, one might ask, what is 'inline hockey?' If you were to Google 'inline hockey', you'd find Slippery Rock University as the second overall result. Inline hockey is simply roller hockey (or hockey on roller skates) but instead of playing with a hockey ball, like most 'roller hockey', it is played with a puck. Other differences include a no checking (hitting) policy so inline is not as physical as ice hockey, however most inline hockey teams like Slippery Rock University carry only nine to ten players on a team and a goalie instead of 25 players like ice hockey. 

  Here at The Rock, there are four different teams belonging to the university's inline club. Two of these are house teams and play only at Neville Island, located near Pittsburgh. These games feature Slippery Rock University versus other local colleges such as Duquesne, Robert Morris, IUP, Carnegie Mellon, etc. The other two teams are known as travel teams and compete in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA), a subdivision of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA). Those two teams are broken down into D1, which competes against top collegiate competition across the country and DIII, which plays mainly against east coast teams. The season is year-round and continues into the spring semester for both teams. For non-travel teams, the season goes into late April with the playoffs beginning in late March. For travel teams, regionals are held in late February to determine if the team is able to make it to nationals. Depending on a teams' performance during regionals, determines its' placing for nationals, which is normally held in early to mid March during spring break. This year the National Championship will be held in Independence, Missouri. 

  Last season only the DI team managed to make nationals and it was only because one team had to forfeit its' games. The D1 team made it to the 'Sweet 16' and lost to the Florida Gators, while the DIII team could not make it out of regionals after a 5-1 loss to Syracuse University.

NCRHA logo 

ECRHA logo (Slippery Rock's Region)

   

IUP vs Slippery Rock at Neville Island (2014)

   The ECRHA releases preseason rankings for all teams across the country according to how they feel the universities will stack up against the competition. Slippery Rock's D1 team is ranked 23rd in the nation, while Lindenwood and Neumann University (both previous national championship winners) are ranked 1st and 2nd in order. For DIII, The Rock is ranked 4th behind Neumann, Michigan State, and Arizona State. All teams play in local 'preseason preview' games where select teams will play these DI and DIII teams over a weekend to ready them for the season. Both Slippery Rock's D1 and DIII teams will play at Grove City YMCA to prepare for the regular season during the weekend of October 10th. Opponents include Akron University, Robert Morris University, and team Hot as Fire (a mix of D1 collegiate players that get together and play for fun).

   Over the last few days the rosters of both travel and non-travel teams have been finalized and the schedule for both is due out next week. Here are the members of the 2015-2016 Slippery Rock University Inline teams:

D1 travel roster via - @sruinlinehockey

DIII travel roster via - @sruinlinehockey

               

Non-travel roster via - @sruinlinehockey

   Previously a club sport, formerly known as 'Rock Pride' (as the logo in the background depicts), Slippery Rock's Inline Club was not affiliated with the university until this season. Starting this season the hockey team is now recognized by Slippery Rock University and will be known as "Slippery Rock University" on schedules across the country, as opposed to 'Rock Pride' the previous seven years that the club existed. Because of this change, watch for licensed apparel in the SGA Bookstore, new black jerseys for the club this season, as well as a brand new logo. 

  Be sure to follow @sruinlinehockey  on Twitter and give them a 'like' on Facebook. If you have any questions regarding inline hockey, how to join, or questions about the sport, feel free to tweet me @zackmorris82, or the club's official page. Stay tuned for the next post to see how the teams are doing as they open the season next week!