After an opening weekend brought in seemingly by the hockey gods themselves, the NYU hockey team kept their dominance alive, extending their win streak to four, going unbeaten on the season thanks to a pair of road wins this weekend, the first coming Friday against the U.S. Naval Academy, 4-3, and the second, Saturday against the University of Maryland – Baltimore County, 7-2.

Friday’s game against the Navy sailed to a quick start as NYU got the man advantage on a Navy hooking call under a minute in, which prompted junior forward Michael Conslato to net a power play goal. After some traded penalties, the Navy knotted things at 12:23. Some more scrummy play and penalty action ensued, punctuated by a late first period goal from sophomore defenseman Connor Finocchio. The Navy couldn’t keep it cool and got themselves tossed to the box again before the period’s end, allowing sophomore forward Mason Gallegos to net NYU’s third with just 17 seconds remaining in the frame and coming just 16 seconds after Finocchio’s tally.

The Navy was quick to net one in the second, coming within one at 2:46. A flurry of uncapitalized action took place in the third, coming to a head with a desperate 5-on-3 defense in the second half of the second. Though the two-man advantage was successfully defended, the Navy completed their comeback with under a minute left, meaning a 3-3 tie heading into the final frame.

Following last season’s trend, the Violets had to head to the kill again early in the third, but were given a power play opportunity at the period’s midway point. Though the Navy killed it, NYU got the go-ahead goal shortly after the return to even strength. The rest of the game played out with painful angst as the Navy pulled their goalie but, ultimately, time ran out and NYU got the win to end up 3-0 on the season. Head coach and wordsmith Chris Cosentino offered that it wasn’t the prettiest, but it was a win.

“Friday night we didn’t play our best hockey and Navy gave us a great fight,” Cosentino said.  “Adam Salisbury made some big saves in the third period and Mason Gallegos scored a big third period goal for us. Like I said, it wasn’t our best hockey, but we found a way to get the win.”

Saturday night against UMBC, the Violets came in with a one-two punch, with Gallegos opening the Violet scoring and junior forward Steven Esposito doubling the lead. Later on in the first, Canadian kid and senior defenseman Evan Ripley came in big with a power play goal to give NYU the 3-0 lead going into the second.

After a slough of UMBC killed-penalties, NYU got an even-strength goal from Conslato to give them the 4-0 lead.

Sophomore forward Matthew Welch later got put away for hooking, giving UMBC a power play goal for their first of the night. NYU killed a couple more before the second period’s end and headed into the third with a dominant 31-16 lead in shots.

Freshman defenseman Giancarlo Pochintesta got his career first at 5:41 of the third to give NYU the 5-1 advantage. A further string of penalties continued through the third, coming to a head with back-to-back power play goals from NYU, the first from Kowalewski and the second — and NYU’s seventh — from senior forward David Morgan. UMBC got a second before the buzzer went, but it was largely irrelevant as NYU got their fourth straight win in the 7-2 showing. Cosentino commented that Saturday’s tilt was more indicative of the team the Violets want to be.

“We need to build off Saturday’s effort and continue to improve as a team.”

The boys will be back home at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink this Friday at 8:30 p.m. against the University of Massachusetts, before heading to Newington, Connecticut the following night to play Central Connecticut State University.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 17 print edition. Email Rachel Ruecker at [email protected].