ACCHL Tournament: North Carolina State Ousts St Joseph’s University

Winston-Salem, NC - The North Carolina State Wolfpack, the number one seed and favorite to win the ACCHL postseason Championship Tournament moved into the semifinals on Saturday with a resounding 11-1 win over the St Joseph’s Hawks.

NC State opened the scoring capitalizing on a turnover at the 14:10 mark of the first period. Wolfpack forward Laythe Jadallah buried a shot from the slot from about mid circle high over the glove of Hawk netminder Ed Bowen. Line mates Nikita Anistratov and Sam Banasiewicz provided the setup passes.

This 1-0 lead held through a series of penalties to both teams mid-way through the opening stanza. In one stretch St. Josephs survived over 40 seconds of a five on three advantage for the Wolfpack.

With less than five minutes remaining in the opening period Banasiewicz received a pass in the slot from Jadallah and hammered the puck at Bowen, the goalie blocked the initial shot but couldn’t contain the rebound and Banasiewicz picked up his own rebound flipping the puck in the net from the right side of the crease.

After a couple of kerfuffles resulted in coincidental penalties later on but with no additional scoring the teams skated off the ice for the first intermission with NC State holding the 2-0 lead and a 15 to 7 advantage in shots on goal.

The two squads traded power play goals in the first five minutes of period two. Will Egbert struck for the Hawks on a setup from JT Tarantino. Shortly thereafter NC State regained their two-goal lead as Eric Mura scored with Banasiewicz gaining the primary assist and Jadallah adding another assist contributing to a 3-1 Wolfpack lead.

NC State also go the next goal to move ahead 4-1. With just under eight and a half minutes left in the period Parker Szarek fired from close range as Riley Johnson and Ian O’Rourke provide the helpers.

Another power play for NC State and another goal, this time from just inside the blue line as Mura fired a bristling slapshot over the goaltender’s shoulder after a cross ice pass from Szarek.

With under a minute left in the period the Wolfpack scored again. Anistratov started the play down deep in the offensive zone. He flipped the puck to Jadallah who cycled it back to the point and Devin Halko slammed it home. This ended the scoring for the period as NC State went to their locker room with a commanding 6-1 lead.

The big lead held and was then extended just under halfway through period three. The Wolfpack extended their lead to 7-1 at 11:31 as Alexander Vedetta got on the score sheet with Dave Hudson and Devin Halko credited with the assists.

Next, NC State added goals with 6:19 and 5:35 left as Riley Johnson picked up back to back goals. His first one came off an assist from Ellis Rushford. The second was also assisted on by Rushford and Alex Robinson.

Finally, Tyler Alfonzetti and Johnson closed the scoring. The Alfonzetti goal was unassisted. Johnson's third goal of the game came with under a minute to go as assists were awarded to Szarek and Mura. Final score 11-1 North Carolina State.