RICHLAND TWP., Pa. — The Chatham Cougars men’s team got their season started Saturday at the Frozen Pond Arena, as they bested the Duquesne Dukes, 5-4 in an exhibition matchup.
The Cougars got out to a roaring start as sophomore forward Chad Bell lit the lamp just 31 seconds into the game. Throughout the next 12 minutes, Chatham peppered the Dukes senior goaltender Alexander Taylor before finally registering a second goal as Bell scored his second of the game and second of the period. Less than two minutes later, the Cougars continued their first period dominance as Andrew Breda made it 3-0. With 1:57 remaining in the first period, Daniel Cangelosi scored and Chatham took a 4-0 lead into the locker room as the Cougars outshot Duquesne 24 to 4 in the period.
The first 10 minutes of the second looked much like the first as the Cougars continued to dominate. But at the 10:54 mark of the second period, the Dukes finally broke through as sophomore forward Stephen Delia snuck one past senior netminder Trever Ralph, who replaced Brain Baker after the first period. That started a string of three straight Dukes goals in a five-minute span as Chris Nathan and Sean Lloyd both scored by the 15:46 mark, making it a 4-3 game heading into the second intermission.
As the third period started, Chatham brought in its third goalie, freshman Ricardo Gonzalez. The teams traded goals in the final period with Chatham freshman Tristan Simm going bar down to put his team up by two on what would end up being the game winning goal. Duquesne’s final tally came from Delia at the 6:46 mark, but would be too little, too late.
Chatham will start regular season play next weekend with a home-and-home series against Fredonia Blue Devils. Friday’s puck drop will be at 7 p.m. in Fredonia, New York before the team returns home on Saturday for a 7:10 p.m. puck drop at the Frozen Pond Arena.
