Aston, Pa (Sunday February 28, 2010) - Only one game remains on the Delaware Valley College Hockey Conference schedule for the 2009-2010 season; the Championship game on March 6th. Alvernia punched its ticket to be one of the last two teams standing with an impressive 8-7 semifinal victory over the # 2 seed Richard Stockton College. Alvernia avenged two regular season losses to Stockton including an 8-0 laugher back in November. That was then and this is now. Alvernia will return to play in its third consecutive conference final.
The Vern offensively explosive from the opening period burned the lamp to a 4-1 lead. Senior John Caputo (Philadelphia, Pa / Roman Catholic HS) gave the Crusader's a 1-0 advantage at the 3:11 mark of the first period stealing an errant Richard Stockton neutral zone turnover. Caputo capitalized on the loose puck with a break away goal stuffing in thru the five holes. Caputo gained speed from the offensive blue line while fending off a desperate back checking effort that only managed to see the puck sniped between the pads. The Crusader's gave up a power play goal only minutes later to help Stockton lock the score at 1-1.

Alvernia regained the lead with consecutive goals from Josh Cohen (Pottstown, Pa / Coventry Christian HS), Patrick Dolan (Cranford, NJ / Cranford HS) and Kevin Mengel (Gilbertsville, Pa / Boyertown HS). Cohen torched a laser beam wrist shot off the bottom right cross bar to give the Vern a 2-1 lead which would never be relinquished. Kevin Mengel who has been on a snipe mission added his first of three goals and third hat trick of the season to build a 3-1 advantage. Fourth line checking forward Patrick Dolan picked up a playoff lamp lighter to create a comfortable lead entering the first intermission.
The second period started with several defensive breakdowns that Stockton wasted little time converting into a 4-3 one goal deficit. The grinding Crusaders would not be denied tonight as Michael Christie (Collegeville, Pa / Perk Valley HS), Josh Cohen and Kevin Mengel ripped off three straight Alvernia goals gaining a four goal cushion and 7-3 led. Christies goal was a work of art passing clinic with Sean Castineira (Philadelphia, Pa / Roman Catholic HS) playing connect the dots from Christian Baron (Philadelphia, Pa / LaSalle College HS) and Christie finishing the clock work puck movement following hard to the net with a one timer.
The Vern entered the third period with a healthy margin for error, which served valuable as the Vern came out soft giving up a quickie to make it 7-4. Mengel almost immediately erased the mistake with a quick move from the lower right offensive corner and crept into the low slot slipping a shot in the five holes for a 8-4 lead. The score remained the same until the final five minutes of regulation when Stockton launched a late scare with three quick strikes cutting the deficit to 8-7 with 32 seconds remaining in regulation. Stockton managed to gain possession over the last 7 seconds and pushed the puck in the slot area but time elapsed and so did their season. Alvernia has earned a trip to play PSU Brandywine in the championship game. PSU Brandywine the #1 seed defeated Neumann University to advance to the Conference Final. Alvernia split with PSU Brandywine in the regular season with a 4-2 win at home and 4-3 overtime loss on the road.

Special Team Kudos:
- 3 Power Play Goals

Did You Notice:
- Stockton had 18 penalties (sounds familiar)
- Borat movie on demand “that's-a-nice-a”
- Same bus driver, good luck charm
- Coach Pete stellar job cleaning the head
- Coach Cirard got his keys back without incident
- Santiano amazed by the approachability of commissioner by angered Stockton fan (for a well traveled hockey guy he can't get enough Gong Show)
- Christmas decorations still the decorating theme on Rink # 2
- Generator must be low on batteries; someone change the light bulbs
- Knoblauch's sweet lob into the neutral zone rafters
- Close Proximity of Home and Away locker rooms
- During play the House PA announced that TEAM USA scored 
- Rink #2 Olympic size dimensions