A bid for revenge ended in heartbreak on ice for the Navy last weekend.
Despite holding a couple of promising leads, the Navy Region Northwest hockey team fell 5-3 to the Army team on Saturday at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Northgate, amounting to what is now a 2-7 record all-time in the rivalry series.
“It’s tough,” forward Corey Cicio said. “But we’ll be back next year and we’ll be ready for the challenge.”
Navy forward Joe Kelly opened the scoring about halfway through a first period littered with Army penalties. Army skaters responded swiftly, scoring twice before the period’s end to head to intermission with a 2-1 lead. To keep itself in the game, the Navy scored a game-tying goal in the middle frame followed by the highlight-reel play of the night from Evan Williams. The forward sped into the offensive zone alone, drew Army goaltender Vince Stevens far out of his crease and capitalized on the wide open net left in his wake.
“Goalie started to hesitate, so at that point, he’s either going to come out or he’s not going to come out,” Williams reflected. “He ended up coming out (to the) top of the (faceoff) circle.”
Scuffles erupted in the third period — to nobody’s surprise but to the sizable crowd’s raucous approval — including one involving Navy enforcer Matt Suto. Although Williams felt things had not been nearly as physical as previous years, the game still had plenty of edge.
“It’s always physical,” he added. “It’s always a good sibling rivalry between the Army and Navy.”
With less than eight minutes remaining in the game, the Army tied things up at three apiece; Williams said the message on the bench shortly afterwards was to “stay smart,” “recenter the team,” and “focus on defense in front of the net.” But about two minutes before the final buzzer, the Army scored again to retake the lead, 4-3, and once more on an empty net to cushion their victory.
Last year’s game was a blowout loss for the Navy team, so Cicio thought defense a success for his team.
“We just really tried to keep to the inside and keep chances around the outside and give our goalie a chance to see the puck,” he assessed. “And for the most part, we were successful. Unfortunately, we just had a couple breakdowns and a bad penalty that killed us.”
Cohesiveness stuck out to Williams as another strength of the group.
“Everyone played really well together, everyone worked really hard,” he said. “It’s a good, hard game. You don’t come out on top sometimes, but we gave ourselves a chance and that’s all you can ask for.”
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Fans lined the boards and filled the stands to watch the ninth game in the rivalry series.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) The penalty box found itself with quite a few tenants over the course of the game.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Eric Hewitt, a Navy defenseman wearing number two here, is one of six players stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey who played in Saturday’s game.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Evan Williams said he is already looking forward to next year’s game.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Tensions ran high in the third period.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Army and Navy fans made themselves heard loud and clear during the game.
(Photo by Allyson Ballard) Even the Navy’s mascot made an appearance at Saturday’s game.
