The College of New Jersey jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period and held off a third-period push to beat Temple University 5-3 on Friday night at Northeast Skate Zone. Nick Staudt and Alex Kotelnikov each finished with a goal and two assists for TCNJ, which improved to 2-1-0. Temple fell to 0-3-0.
TCNJ scored twice on the power play in the opening period. Staudt converted with 18:47 left, and Daniel Yakub made it 2-0 at even strength with 12:52 remaining. Kotelnikov added a second power-play goal with 10:47 left for a 3-0 lead. Kotelnikov entered the game with seven points in two games and assisted on the first two goals before scoring the third. Staudt had one point in his first two games and picked up a point on each of TCNJ’s first three goals.
Temple got on the board in the second period when Mitchell Elliott scored with 16:17 left, set up by Patrick Stelacio. Colin Helkowski answered 1:17 later with an unassisted goal that restored the three-goal margin and stood as the game-winner. Temple pulled within one early in the third. Stelacio scored off an Elliott feed with 16:53 remaining, and Dano Malik made it 4-3 just over two minutes later on a setup from Ryan Roscoe. Ej Gleie responded 1:49 after Malik’s goal, scoring with 12:57 left off assists from Nicholas Gallo and Helkowski to make it 5-3.
Nathan Mayer earned the win for TCNJ, stopping 30 of 33 shots. Temple used two goaltenders. Miles Gordon allowed three goals on 10 shots, and Joe Gambino stopped 21 of 23 and took the loss. Stelacio, Elliott, Malik and Roscoe all recorded their first points of the season, and Stelacio and Elliott each finished with a goal and an assist.
The win gave TCNJ two victories over Temple in a week after it beat the Owls 9-1 on Sept. 12. Temple will look for its first win of the season in its next game.
