Ice Hockey Upsets Top Seeds; Ends Season at AAU College Hockey National Championship

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Being invited as the eighth seed to the 2023 AAU College Hockey National Championship, the Florida Southern College Men's Ice Hockey team earned two wins over the top two seeds in the pool to finish at 2-1 in pool play, falling just short of advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. The Moccasins fell in a three-way tiebreaker that sent the fifth-seed Widener and third-seed Farmingdale to the semifinals.

"The progress the boys accomplished as individuals and coming together as a true team this season was very rewarding as their Coach," Head Coach Gilles Richard said. "They truly cared for each other and wanted nothing but success for each other. Our run at Nationals to end on a tie breaker was extremely disappointing for this team. They played with heart. Unfortunately injuries sidelined a few. Others played through injuries and fatigue was a true factor. I am extremely proud of how we performed. The players should be proud. The school should be proud. They were Warriors and earned a lot of respect from the college hockey community."
 
The Mocs opened the tournament against the second-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles, where Florida Southern posted a 3-2 win, thanks to goals from Drew Montanarella, Paul Rigiloni, and Matthew Fromer. Andrew Kaiser started in goal for the Mocs and earned the win as the Purple Eagles tallied 32 shots on goal. The Mocs finished the first game of the tournament with 25 shots on goal.
 
Montanarella got the Mocs on the board first with a goal at the 4:37 mark in the first period thanks to a pass from Paul Rigiloni. Rigiloni added to the lead with a goal at the 3:03 mark from Noah Gabryluk. Tied at 2-2, Matthew Fromer found the back of the net with 4:03 remaining, to give Florida Southern a 3-2 lead. The Mocs held on for an upset over the second-seeded Purple Eagles.
 
Florida Southern turned around and played its second game on March 12 in which the Mocs defeated Farmingdale State 7-4 to sit atop the table with four points. Jason Cribbs earned the win in goal as he faced 33 shots from the Rams. Rigiloni tallied six Moc goals, including an unassisted game-winning goal in the third period. Keaton Clay scored the other Moccasin goal in the opening frame.
 
Clay, Wayne Aarts, Gabryluk, Zachary Kensler, Gaven Tryon, and Fromer all registered an assist in the game-two win.
 
Battling to stay in postseason play, and finish atop the table, Florida Southern saw it's season head to jeopardy after a 6-2 loss to the fifth-seeded Widner Pride. Gaven Tryon scored the first goal of the game at the 12:06 mark thanks to assists from Rigiloni and Clay. Fromer would tack on the Mocs' second goal with 6:47 to play, as the game drew to a close, in favor of the Pride.
 
Kaiser and Cribbs saw action in goal where Kaiser would suffer the loss, to move to 1-1 in the tournament.
 
After Farmingdale State and Niagara played in the afternoon, which the Rams won, it put a three-way tie to Widener, Florida Southern, and Farmingdale State all at 2-1-0. The College Hockey Federation broke the tie, after the first tie was out of play (head-to-head), via goals against. With the Pride and Rams allowing 10 goals, Florida Southern sat at 12, ending its season in third place after two major upsets of the second and third-ranked teams in the division.
 
For the three games at the tournament, Paul Rigiloni finished with seven goals and two assists to lead all Moccasins in scoring. 
 
The Moccasins finished with a 19-9 record, and two postseason trips. Florida Southern finished runners-up at the 2023 College Hockey South D3 PictSweet Cup hosted by the Mocs March 3-5, before finishing 2-1 and in third at the AAU College Hockey National Championship.