Shark Feast At Stonehill: LIU Wins First Game of Season, 7-1

It was a shark feast in North Easton, MA, as the LIU Men’s Hockey program picked up their first win of the season in commanding fashion, a 7-1 win over Stonehill.

“I’m really proud of the group,” LIU head coach Brett Riley said postgame. “To come on the road, [against a] new opposition [Stonehill]…they were really excited and brought good energy.”

“So it was not easy at times, and we made it harder on ourselves than we needed to, but it was a good mental test for us and our guys really responded well.”

Leading the way for Long Island was alternate captain Anthony Vincent, who notched two goals Saturday night. The two-goal night was his first since Nov. 22, 2020, while a member of Holy Cross in a game against LIU no less.

“It was definitely a good team win…A little bit of a slow start, but I think the guys picked it up, and it was a team effort,” Anthony Vincent told NYI Hockey Now. “So it was good to see that come through and get the first win of the season.”

It was a different gameplay style compared to last weekend against Northeastern and Coach Riley used a great metaphor to describe it.

“It was obviously a different type of game, where we had the puck more, we were kind of the hunted versus the hunters, so to speak, but I thought our team speed was good.”

Vinnie Purpura did a great job of holding things down in net as he stopped 14 of 15 shots.

From the second period onward, it was all LIU with five more goals before the end of the game, including a few new shark tank members in Josh Zary and Daniel Baldassarra.

While the win is great for LIU, the Sharks have a quick turnaround as they play Quinnipiac later today.

“I think we just had a good meal right here and then just kind of recover tonight and prepare for tomorrow. We know they’re [Quinnipiac is]a good team, but we got lots of confidence ourselves as well,” Zary shared. “So I think we’re looking forward to it.”

“Definitely a quick turnaround, but the mindset doesn’t change,” Vincent added. “We’re playing another good team tomorrow, and we just got to be ready to go,” said the LIU alternate captain.

Purpura getting the start again tomorrow is “likely” per Riley, however, the bench boss for LIU has been really happy with all his goalies so far this season.

“Brandon Perrone has been really excellent in practice, for what it’s worth. So I’m very confident in all of our goalies, and very pleased with the compete of our goalie core. The culture of our goaltending has never been better.”

The Sharks are back in action tomorrow at Quinnipiac University at 2 P.M Eastern on ESPN+.