Navy Sing Second

Annapolis, MD – Before a packed house, the Navy Midshipmen defeated the visiting Army Black Knights by a score of 6-5, allowing the home team to sing second. For those not familiar with the Army/Navy rivalry, it is tradition to play the Alma Maters of both Academies after any sporting event. The winning Academy has the honor of “singing second”. 

In the first period, Navy came out strong, firing 17 shots on goal, to just nine shots for Army, as well as scoring the first goal of the game. Andrew Douglas scored unassisted at 11:37. However, Army’s team captain Matt Riehl scored just sixteen seconds later to tie the game. Army followed up with two more goals, including a power play goal again by Riehl at 19:15 to end the first period scoring.

The second period also saw Navy dominatethe number of shots taken 18 to nine, and tighten the game up by periods end. Army scored first in the period at 2:27 when Matt Riehl lit the lamp on an assist from Al Miller. At 7:59 Matthew Stamler of Navy scored the first of his four goals with an assist from Andrew Douglas. The Midshipmen thought they had pulled to within one at 8:32, but their celebration was cut short an interference penalty negated the goal. Undeterred by the penalty, Navy was able to pull within a goal by the end of the period when Stamler and Douglas teamed up again at 11:17.

The tide changed in the third period and Navy gained momentum scoring three unanswered goals to take a two goal lead. Matt Stamler scored the tying goal at 5:16 with assists from Luke Turk and John Scaccia. It was Jake Rotzler unassisted at 9:40 for the lead. Stamler finished Navy’s scoring for the night on a goal from Edward Xiao and Andrew Douglas. As with any Army/Navy matchup, this was not be the end of the game as Army continued to fight, managing to score a goal at 14:33 to bring the Black Knights to within one goal. Navy was able to hang on, even as Army pulled there goaltender, to seal the victory.

Robert Fenton, of Army, ended the game with 43 saves on 49 shots, while Navy’s Luke Markus saved 22 of 27 shots. Army killed off both Navy power plays, while Navy killed off 5 of 6 Army power plays. Navy plays at home Saturday night, while Army stays on the road with their next game coming next Friday night.