Mules ice hockey crushes St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans

This past Friday, Nov. 11, Muhlenberg College’s club ice hockey team took on the team from St. Thomas Aquinas (STAC) at their home rink, the Rink at Lehigh Valley. For only the second time this season, the Mules beat the opposing team, dominating the Spartans 12-2.

Both teams are still in the process of rebuilding their programs, with the Mules restarting from scratch two seasons ago and STAC bringing their team back as a club sport just last year. Muhlenberg, who entered the game 2-6, had the advantage for once in facing off against STAC, who is now 0-6. Noah Dorfman ‘20 opened up the scoring, with a Muhlenberg goal at 12:36 in the first. It didn’t take him long to find the back of the net again, scoring his second goal of the game just under two minutes later at 9:56. Jacob Picker ‘18, who had the lone assists on both of Dorfman’s goals, scored his first of the game at 4:52. Scoring the last goal of the period with 2:47 left, Sam Amon ‘19 put the Mules up 4-0 with his only goal of the game. The momentum didn’t end for Muhlenberg going into the second, as it often does in their other games. Billy Rafferty ‘18 scored his first goal of the game at 13:19. The Mules went on to score four more times in the period: Tyler Tavormina ‘18 netting one at 10:04 and another at 7:57, Dorfman earning himself a hat trick just ten seconds later at 7:47, and Picker with his second goal with 18 seconds left. STAC squeezed in one of their two goals of the game in the second period as well, with Nick Gargan scoring at 3:09. Even with the victory practically sealed for the Mules, the goals didn’t stop in the third. Pat Moran ‘17 scored his first of the season with 10:17 left in the game. Most of the third period action was consolidated in the last two minutes of play, with three goals and one penalty. Picker earned his own hat trick with a goal at 1:21, Patrick Burns scored one for STAC with 32.5 seconds left, and Rafferty tapped in a breakaway goal with seven seconds left. The game ended in a dominating win for Muhlenberg win after three straight losses. Muhlenberg ice hockey returns home this Friday, Nov. 18 against Bloomsburg University, which is their final game before Thanksgiving break. The last time these two teams met, Bloomsburg came out with the 9-1 win.

Photo courtesy of Alyssa Hertel.