The Official News Letter of PENN Men's Ice Hockey                                                                                            Issue #57, February 17, 2007

February 9, 2007
PENN 4
Temple 2

February 11, 2007
PENN 1
Wagner 6

NEWS AND NOTES

The Quakers finished the 2006-2007 season with a MACHA record of  2-12-3-1, finishing in 10th place.   The overall season record was 7-21-3.

Photos of most Penn home games from the 2006-2007 season can be found here.

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For the first time in their Penn careers, the Quaker seniors failed to make it to the MACHA playoffs, meaning games against Temple and Wagner over the season’s final weekend would be the last for the four seniors.

But a come-from-behind victory in their last home game of the season helped to temper the Quakers disappointment during the last weekend of the season. On Friday night, Penn bounced back from a 2-0 deficit to the Owls, and came away with a 4-2 win.

Penn dominated the first ten minutes of play, but the team then got a series of penalties which seemed to take away the Quakers’ momentum. The Owls responded by putting two goals in the net in less than three minutes, the second coming with 8:12 remaining in the period. The Quakers almost immediately drew another penalty, and Penn called a timeout to try and regroup.

Penn killed the penalty and began to look better at the close of the period. However, the Quakers were unable to get anything going offensively and headed into the locker room down 2-0.

Penn opened with a power play in the second period. Junior Jeff Greenberg took a shot that left a wobbly rebound in front of the net which freshman Sam Lerer steered into the top right corner of the net to bring Penn within one just 21 seconds into the period. The goal was Lerer’s team-leading 18^th of the season.

The Quakers again went on the power play early in the second period. Greenberg fed it from the outside hash mark to Ned Swanson at the point. Swanson swung the puck over to captain Matt Bessette who took a few steps in and put the puck away to tie the game at two. The assist gave Greenberg his team-leading 27^th.

Penn would take the lead seven minutes later on yet another power play. Lerer sent a shot off of the Owls’ goalie which bounced to the goalie’s right and onto the stick of Riley Tagtmeyer who sent a shot along the ice into the back of the net. Greenberg would add an empty netter in the game’s final seconds to bring the score to 4-2.

Senior Matt Weyandt had 36 saves to get the win.

The Quakers final game of the season on Staten Island against Wagner College did not go as well as the final home game. The game meant nothing to either team with the Quakers already out of playoff contention and the Seahawks already guaranteed a spot at the Division II national tournament and the No. 1 seed in the MACHA playoffs, and it seemed to show in the sloppy play.

Wagner opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game and never looked back. The Seahawks scored three goals in the first period. Sophomore Dave Farber tried to help the Quakers claw back into the game. His unassisted goal with 10 seconds left in the period came on a hustle play. However, the goal did not give the Quakers any life. Wagner put in three more goals before the end of the game. The 6-1 final was the same as when the team’s played in December. Weyandt had 36 saves in the loss.

The Quakers had a tough week and a half in which they dropped three games, two of which came in the MACHA knocking Penn out of playoff contention.

On Thursday, Penn had its annual matchup against University City rival Drexel. Although Penn played well against its second Division I opponent in three games, the Quakers were unable to come away with the victory, falling to the Dragons, 3-2.

After Dave Farber drew the game's first penalty for checking from behind, Drexel took advantage of the power play as Zak Balzic put home a pass from PJ Armstrong to give the Dragons a one-goal lead.       

But before the end of the period, junior Jeff Greenberg took a feed from Farber and tied the game heading into the locker room at the end of the first period.

Penn came out strong in the second and took the lead less than two minutes into the period on a goal by sophomore Tim Siegmund. But Drexel would tie the game just three minutes later and then put the game-winning goal in late in the second. Goalie Matt Weyandt had 48 saves in the losing effort.

In the second game of the weekend, the Quakers looked sluggish and fell to the University of Maryland Baltimore Country, 6-1.

Penn was never really in the game, as the Retrievers scored three goals in the first ten minutes, two on the power play. The game was marred by penalties with 19 on the Quakers and 16 on the retrievers. UMBC scored four of its six goals on the power play.

Before the game, Penn honored its four seniors—captain Matt Bessette, assistant captain Ned Swanson, Jeff Greenwald and Weyandt.

On Tuesday night, the Quakers had a late game against Philadelphia rival St. Joseph’s. A Hawks win would clinch a MACHA playoff spot for St. Joe’s for the second year in a row. St. Joe’s knocked Penn out of the playoffs in the first round last year, so the Quakers were savoring a chance to put the Hawks playoff hopes in jeopardy.

St. Joe’s dominated the first period taking a 3-1 lead in the locker room. After the break, the Hawks kept coming and pushed their lead to 5-1. Penn did not fold however, and scored one before the end of the period, giving them a chance heading into the final frame.

Penn dominated the last third of the game, and scored with 14 seconds remaining to bring the game within one goal, 5-4. However, after a timeout, Penn was unable to win the draw at center ice. St. Joe’s dumped the puck into the Quakers’ zone, and Penn never got a shot on net.

The one-goal loss was the 11^th for the Quakers this season, who are just 2-11-3 in games decided by one-goal or less.