By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
Gonzaga hockey Coach Nate Jackson wasn’t pleased with the way the Eagles broke their huddle before the second period so he called his players back to the bench and made them do it again – louder.
Turns out, it took a goal being called back and a little anger to really get the Eagles going.
Gonzaga scored three goals in less than a minute to start the second period, not counting the one the goal that was waved off, to beat Georgetown Prep, 5-2, in Rockville Monday night.
“We were really mad,” said Gonzaga junior Nicky Demeria. “We just decided, if he’s not going to give us that goal, lets run away with the game right now before they get any momentum.”
After Demeria scored the first goal in just two minutes, eight seconds, Georgetown Prep (12-4) notched the game’s next two goals off the stick of sophomore Justin Butler.
Gonzaga’s players were slouching, Jackson said, and had no life.
Gonzaga (9-4-2) tied the game just 34 seconds into the second period on a goal by junior Joe Duquette. Then after winning the face off, Gonzaga stormed the goal and put in the puck while knocking the net off its pegs. But after seemingly ruling it a goal, the referees called off the score.
Jackson went berserk on the bench and there was a long delay in the game as the referees conferred.
“It was beneficial because they were [ticked] off,” Jackson said. “Whenever a team’s [ticked] off they’re going to play harder.”
Gonzaga certainly turned it up a notch.
Senior defenseman Jonathan Carmony put Gonzaga ahead seconds later and just 1:06 into the period. Just 24 seconds after that, senior Warren Coady put in a rebound on a shot by junior Sam Gerdano.
All tool one line scored three goals in 55 seconds.
“It was a good run,” Carmony said.
“You can’t get much faster than that,” Demeria added.
Gonzaga added another goal, this time off a slapshot by senior captain Alex Bodenheimer that glanced off Georgetown Prep defenseman CJ Sweigart.
But the three goals ultimately are what gave the Little Hoyas their second loss against the Eagles this season. Gonzaga defeated Georgetown Prep in the Purple Puck finals, 7-3, on Dec. 31.
Since then, however, Gonzaga has been struggling to reach the Mid Atlantic Prep Hockey League playoffs. The Eagles were coming off back-to-back losses to O’Connell and Calvert Hall while Georgetown Prep was fresh off a victory over Landon.
“We had some bad blood brewing over the Purple Puck,” Jackson said. “Prep’s kind of running away with it in their league, so it’s kind of establishing ourselves as a pretty good team in this league.”
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