BY JARED SERRE | For The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With the 2019-20 season still in its infancy, the Morgantown Mohawks were able to take a step in the right direction on Thursday night in their state title defense.
In their home opener, the Mohawks were able to defeat the visiting Bishop Canevin Crusaders at the Morgantown Ice Arena by a final score of 5-3.
“It was good to get our first victory of the year and just start, especially your first home game,” Morgantown head coach Rob Rockis said. “To get a victory is nice.”
Despite the Crusaders winning the opening face-off, they were not able to take advantage of the initial windfall as Morgantown was able to get on the board a mere 27 seconds into the game.
Off a pass from Daniel Arthurs, Morgantown captain Turner Lawrence was able to find the back of the Bishop Canevin net with 16:33 remaining in the first period. The goal placed the Mohawks ahead by a 1-0 score.
The goal was the first of three on the night for Lawrence, with the final two coming in the third period. Both his second and third goal came off assists from Reis Snider — the second with just under 10 minutes to go in the game, while the third came with 3:43 remaining in regulation.
Outside of the scoring onslaught from Lawrence, Morgantown was able to add two additional scores.
The first came in the second period when Arthurs, off an assist from Bryce Wimmer, was able to beat the Bishop Canevin defense for the Mohawks’ second score of the game. Morgantown’s fifth score came off the stick of Corder Helmick and into an empty net in the game’s final seconds.
Arthurs’ score, which gave Morgantown a 2-1 advantage, served as a counter to the first goal of the game for the Crusaders. With 8:48 remaining in the second period, Bishop Canevin’s Matthew Tanczos was able to thread the needle and score after the puck slid through the legs of Morgantown goalie Blake Phillips.
The Crusaders were able to add two more scores in the third period on shots from Kevin Randal and Cameron Ropchok, but the Morgantown offense continued to respond. The two teams combined for five goals in the third period alone, while scoring only three in the other two periods.
Despite ending the night with 42-28 shots on goal edge over Morgantown, Bishop Canevin was unable to muster up enough offense to catch the Mohawks ultimately being handed the loss.
The Mohawks will not hit the ice again until Tuesday night when they travel to Canonsburg, Pa. They will take on Trinity at Printscape Arena at Southpointe, with the opening puck drop coming at 7 p.m.
