HARMAR TWP., Pa – The John Carroll Blue Streaks got their first conference win of the season with an 8-4 victory over the Duquesne Dukes at Alpha Ice Complex Saturday night.
Duquesne started the scoring fast with a goal from captain Sean Lloyd just over a minute in. From there, it was all John Carroll. Evan Krueger and Michael Floccare scored less than a minute apart as the Blue Streaks took a 2-1 lead. Krueger scored his second of the game to make it 3-1 as John Carroll successfully neutralized the aggressive Duquesne Offense. The Blue Streaks had an answer for every pass and every dump-in. Finally, Duquesne rookie Hayden Feck deflected a PJ Breslow shot to pull the Dukes within a goal with 2:40 left in the first period.
The second period went much the way of the first. Duquesne looked aggressive, and it was finally starting to pay off. The Dukes were finally getting shots to the net. Still, it was John Carroll that kept finding the back of the net. With a second left on a John Soliday crosschecking minor penalty, Danny Beebe extended the Blue Streak’s lead to 4-2. A few minutes later, Duquesne rookie Evan Blum used impressive puck handling to keep the puck in the offensive zone and brought the deficit back to a single goal. Unfortunately for Duquesne, it was rendered moot as John Carroll regained the two-goal advantage less than 30 seconds afterward. Another power play goal on another John Soliday penalty made the advantage 6-3 John Carroll after two periods of play.
The third period, again, was much the same as the first and second. John Carroll extended their lead to 7-3 just under four minutes into the third. Four minutes afterward, Dan Bigley scored for Duquesne, but it was all they could do. John Carroll put the empty net goal in with a minute to play and took the 8-4 victory for their first conference win of the season.
Duquesne will be back in action on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 11:30 a.m. against Toledo at Alpha Ice Complex.
John Carroll will face Slippery Rock on Nov. 1 at 10:10 p.m. at UPMC Lemeuix Sports Complex.
MAJOR FOCUS: John Carroll gets first conference win in victory over Duquesne (FULL GALLERY)
