Saint Louis sweeps Eastern

The Eastern hockey club closed out its 2014 season during the weekend with a pair of losses against Saint Louis.

The Panthers lost Friday by a score of 11-5 and 14-1 on Saturday.

Friday’s game saw the first time the Panthers were back at their home ice at the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville. The Panthers had not played in Danville since their sweep over Eastern Kentucky back in November.

Despite the 11-5 loss, the five goals were the most the Panthers had scored since the sweep over Eastern Kentucky. Eastern had five different players score goals: senior forward Ryan Newton, senior forward Andrew Maronich, senior Tim Shannon, senior defenseman Joe Salazar, and junior forward Glenn Oskverek.

Saint Louis had 11 goals, with three different players scoring two goals: junior forward Curran Eigelberger, freshman forward Issac Rider and sophomore forward Adam Dettenmeirer. Senior defenseman Drew Tierney led the team with one goal and three assists for four points.

Freshman forward Niall Caparon, graduate student Charlie Garavaglia, senior defenseman Matt Aul, and junior forward Andrew Greene also recorded goals.

Eastern senior goalie Andrew Teske faced 42 shots in the first game, while sophomore Andrew Hayden and senior Tyler Stewart split time in goal for Saint Louis. Each goalie faced 15 shots.

In the second game, the Billikens took a commanding lead from the start, putting up seven goals in the first period. The Panthers found the net for the first and only time in the second period, when Shannon scored his second goal of the series.

Heading into the third period, Saint Louis was ahead 9-1. The Billikens added five more goals in the third period to bring the final score to 14-1.

Dettenmeirer led the Billikens in the second game, scoring three goals and one assist for four points. Eigelberger had four points as well, coming off two goals and two assists. Sophomore forward Matt Gavula and junior defenseman Connor Mullen each had one goal and two assists.

Also with three points, freshman forward James Colestock assisted on three goals. Greene, along with senior forward Grant Husley had two goals each, while freshman defenseman Brendan Wilson and Caparon had one goal and one assist each.

Rider was the only member of the Billikens to finish the game with one goal and no assists.

Aul, Eric Mebruer, Ben Modde and Chris Pilcher each had one assist.

Teske faced 42 shots in the second game, while Steward and Hayden again split time. Hayden saw 20 shots come his way, while Steward faced just five.

The Panthers finished the season on a 12-game losing streak. Senior captain Maronich said the club’s game against the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign would not be made up.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.