Icers hold Blue Hen leader scoreless in win

There's no denying it: University of Delaware center Paul Pipke can be a dominating hockey player. Taking one look at the records he left behind at his former school, West Virginia University, and those he is setting now as a Blue Hen show the kind of offensive force Pipke can be.

It didn't take long for Pipke to etch his name in the Delaware record books, either. After just 28 games, the 6-foot, 190-pound senior from White Rock, British Columbia, has averaged 3.29 points per game and has already broken the Blue Hens' single-season record for points. Pipke's 92 points this season surpassed the previous record of 90, and he still has six games left in the regular season to add to that total.

However, Pipke wasn't able to add to his record over the weekend against Penn State. As a matter of fact, the Icers have held Pipke without a point in all three games they've played against Delaware this season.

"That was something we really strived for," Icer coach Joe Battista said. "We played three games against him, and he never got a point. And he never was a serious threat."

The credit for keeping Pipke bottled up has to go to the Icers' checking line of Andrew Barnes, C.J. Patrick and Rich Martha. Any time Pipke's line, including wingers Greg Barber and Matt Gingras, took the ice, Penn State countered with its checking line. Eddie Kmit could usually be found on the blue line, as well.

The line matching worked extremely well for the Icers. The only member of the Blue Hens' top line who registered a point was Gingras, who assisted on a power- play goal Saturday.

"When Pipke was on the ice, we weren't (messing) around with the puck," Kmit said. "We just got it out of the zone. We just wanted Pipke to be skating back and fourth and not just worrying about trying to get a rush (up the ice)."

Any time Pipke got the puck, there was at least one Icer on him immediately. Not only was Pipke held scoreless, he was barely noticeable on the ice.

During the first period of the game Saturday, Pipke found some room behind the Icer net and almost put a wraparound past goalie John Sixt, but Sixt made a pad save. Three Penn State players then collapsed on Pipke, knocked him to the ice and prevented him from getting a rebound.

By the second period, Pipke was relegated to using a physical style of play instead of his usual flashy offensive game. With the Icers leading 5-0, Pipke set up teammate Brett Huston on a breakaway by bowling over Icer defenseman Jason Zivkovic as the puck was coming to him at the point.

Pipke took out his man, which freed up the puck and allowed Huston to go in alone on a breakaway against Icer goalie Anthony Annexy. However, Annexy stoned Huston to keep the Blue Hens off the board.

Without Pipke's support, the Blue Hens weren't able to generate offense. Barnes said Delaware doesn't have enough skill players to be able to lift its team when the first line is shut down. The Icers' defensive philosophy worked when the teams played in Delaware earlier this season, and it worked once again over the weekend.

"Their first line gets like 65 or 70 percent of their goals," Barnes said, "so basically all we did was key on them and shut them down.

"(Pipke's) obviously a good player. He's got a lot of points this year. (Delaware's) philosophy against us was trying to float him a lot and try to get him a lot of breakaways, but with the type of defense we play, it's usually not going to work."