John Carroll hockey went into the weekend needing two wins on the road to keep pace in the race for the top spot in College Hockey Mid America. Facing a local rival and a high powered offense on consecutive nights, the Blue Streaks came away with two hard fought wins.
The Friday night matchup with Youngstown State proved to be the traditional local rivalry, with some big hits and plenty of scoring, most by the Blue Streaks. Going into the third period leading by a goal, John Carroll blew the game open with four third period goals en route to an 8-3 victory over the Penguins. Junior Dan Potter led the way with four points (3G, 1A) while Sophomore Tyler Rhodes added three points of his own (2G, 1A). Junior goaltender Justin Camuto made 24 saves in the win. The Blue Streaks outshot Youngstown State 56-27 for the contest.
Saturday night it was on to Pittsburgh to take on the Slippery Rock University Pride. With an explosive offense that scores in bunches, JCU knew they had to play a complete 60 minutes to get a CHMA road win, and they did just that. Senior Jesse Dietrick broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period to give John Carroll a lead it would never relinquish. Behind strong goaltending once again by Camuto (36 saves) and some excellent defensive play, the Blue Streaks scored three third period goals to put the game out of reach. Potter and Rhodes each tallied again for JCU, as did Sophomore Mike Gionta and Junior Defenseman Sean McHugh giving John Carroll a 5-1 win. The most impressive thing about the win was holding a Slippery Rock offense that had averaged nearly 6 goals per game to 1 goal. The win gives JCU a weekend sweep and evened the team's record at 8-8.
John Carroll returns home this coming weekend for two conference games, Friday vs. Robert Morris University (PA) at 8:10 pm and Saturday vs. Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 6:10pm. Both games are at the Gilmour Academy Ice Arena.