Virginia Tech 5, Georgetown 3.

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, before a crowd of approximately 1000 at the Roanoke Civic Center, the Hokies of Virginia Tech defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 5-3. The game was a seesaw match in which VT led 2-0 at the end of the first period; Georgetown dominated the second period to take a 3-2 lead; and VT fought back in the third period to secure the victory.

The Hoya highlights occurred during an amazing 3-minute stretch in the second period, when VT thought they were in control of the game with a 2-0 lead. First, with 8:37 remaining in the second period, Richie McGinniss (Soph-New Canaan, CT) delivered a perfect pass from the right boards to the front of the net, where Lukas Autenried (Soph-Wallisellen, Switzerland) redirected it past the Hokies’ goalie and into the back of the net to cut the VT lead to 2-1.

Approximately one minute later, with 7:33 remaining in the second period, defenseman Charlie Walsh (Sr-Cheshire, CT) passed the puck inside the blue line to fellow defenseman Charlie Beller (Jr-Chappaqua, NY) at the left point. Charlie unloaded a vicious slap shot that beat the VT goalie, stunned the Hokies’ crowd, and tied the score at 2-2.

Approximately one and a-half minutes later, with 5:55 remaining in the second period, the Hoyas executed a perfect breakout and found Brian Brauth (Grad-Hoboken, NJ) on the right side in the neutral zone. Brian skated ahead of the VT defenders and delivered a hard low shot that was blocked by the pads of the Hokies’ goalie. The rebound deflected about 5 feet in front of the goal. The Hoyas’ center, Dan Lechner (Sr-Rockville, MD) pounced on the loose puck and chipped it over the shoulder of the VT goalie to give the Hoyas a 3-2 lead. The Hokies’ crowd was shocked and silenced.

During the remainder of the second period and much of the third, the Hokies attempted to claw their way back into the game by late hits, cheap shots, and assorted trash talking. Unfortunately, the Hoyas took the bait and committed 8 penalties during the remainder of the game. VT took advantage of the situation and scored 3 unanswered goals in the third period to win the game.