Gettysburg puts forth great effort with minimal players at Delco tournament

Gettysburg finished off the Fall semester with a trip to Philadelphia, PA to face a number of strong teams in the Penn State Delco tournament. Gettysburg would be facing, Hofstra University, SUNY Albany and Penn State Delco. Also in this showcase tournament would be old Mason Dixon rival Loyola and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. However, Gettysburg was still plagued by injuries, an all too familiar story this season, and it would strike the hardest in the first game of the tournament against Hofstra.

Gettysburg played the game with eight skaters and unfortunately it did not start out well for the Bullets. Six minutes in to the period Hofstra was on the power play and put one past Senior goaltender Rich Sommerkorn. Gettysburg would then wake up a little and give what they had with the few amount of players on their bench. They seemed to control most of the period but could not put one past the Hofstra goaltender and with minutes left in the first Hofstra would put another past Sommerkorn on a rebound.

The Bullets knew they would need to really dig down if they were going to pull this game out. But they would find themselves in an even bigger hole as Hofstra would score once again on the powerplay. Not deterred, the Bullets leading scorer, Junior Phil Deyette, danced around the Hofstra defense and finally put a goal past the Hofstra goaltender. With time winding down Gettysburg were once again shorthanded, and gave up another powerplay goal to Hofstra with two minutes remaining in the period. Feeling they may take a three goal deficit in to the period the Bullets took the next faceoff and went down to score the second of the game and took the momentum with them in to the locker room.

The momentum continued in the third as Gettysburg's Deyette once again rifled one past Hofstra's goaltender pulling the Bullets within one. However, that would be all the magic they could produce as the Hofstra netminder stoned them time and time again the rest of the game and Hofstra would be able to score two more late making the final score 6-3. Despite only having 8 players the Bullets outshot Hofstra 44-37 and just had trouble beating the Hofstra goaltender.

The next day of the tournament Gettysburg faced off against #2 ranked SUNY Albany. SUNY Albany also lost their first game of the tournament in an upset against IUP. Gettysburg remembered how they upset Albany last season in this same tournament handing SUNY Albany their only lost of the year with the exception of the national championship game. Still short players, Gettysburg still hoped to bring back some of that magic this year. It started well for the Bullets as Freshman newcomer Mike Schopp scored his first of the tournament midway through the first period. However, the lead would be short lived as the Bullets gave up two quick goals minutes later and took a 2-1 deficit in to the second period.

Gettysburg had high hopes in the second as they knew they could overcome this deficit, however that was when the penalties started. Gettysburg began taking penalty after penalty and SUNY Albany continued to capitalize. They scored 7 powerplay goals. Schopp added another goal but Albany's powerplay was too much for the Bullets as they fell hard 12-2.

The final game of the tournament was against the host, Penn State Delco. Delco had yet to lose in the tournament and was ranked 4th in the Atlantic. This game, like the Hofstra game started with the Bullets forfeiting 3 goals to their opponent and went in to the second period down 3-0. Gettysburg still could not get anything going in the second as they could not score on the Delco goaltender, and would give up two more going down 5-0 with ten minutes remaining in the second period. Coach Esser felt he had over worked Senior goaltender Rich Sommerkorn, and decided to give Junior Cory Waldron his first shot of the tournament.

Gettysburg's Deyette added two quick goals and the Bullets were starting to show some life. Heading in to third it was the Bullet's Schopp who added another goal pulling the Bullets within two. Minutes later it was Junior Dave Frascarelli who added a goal pulling the Bullets within one goal. With all of the momentum in their favor Gettysburg on the powerplay scrambling in the front and Mark Bouchard poked home a rebound, allegedly tying the game. However, the referee claimed the whistle had blown prior to the goal so the Bullets still found themselves down by one. But it would not take long as Freshman Eddie Rupp scored to tie the game and complete Gettysburg's amazing comeback. With time winding down, Waldron came up with some huge saves including stopping a Delco player on a breakaway. With three seconds remaining in the third Gettysburg was already starting to prepare for overtime. However, they had a faceoff to the right of the Delco goaltender, and as the puck was dropped Deyette won the faceoff right to Schopp who wristed a quick shot that hit the back of the net as the buzzer went off and the Bullets completed a huge comeback with a final second goal to win 6-5 ending a four game losing steak for Gettysburg.

The Bullets would like to thank all the fans and families who came and supported them in the tournament and look to get back to their winning ways after the winter break.