Charity hockey game helps Wounded Warriors

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Chuck Walker
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NEWARK, Del. --  Combining ice hockey and fund raising for a good cause was the goal for a group of Team Dover hockey players and the University of Delaware NCAA Division II team as they played a charity hockey game benefitting The Wounded Warrior Project on Mar. 10, 2013, at the Fred Rust Ice Arena on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.

The charity event, which is usually a hockey game between Dover AFB and McGuire, had to be cancelled when McGuire had to back out of the event due to Hurricane Sandy. That's when Team Dover player-coach Matthew Lothrop contacted the University of Delaware, and the Blue Hens agreed to the charity hockey game.

The event raised $8,725 dollars for wounded soldiers which made up for the loss by Team Dover, as the Blue Hens defeated the Dover Air Force Base Eagles 12-8.

Lothrop scored two goals and came away with two assists and Chris Freehoff added two goals in defeat for Team Dover. Derek DiDonato led the Blue Hens scoring a hat trick, three goals.

Lothrop said the Eagles had fun despite the loss.
"It was nerve-wrecking and that was apparent in the first period, but then we settled down and kept the game competitive," Lothrop said. "It was basically the first time we were all together on the same ice, so I thought we played really well. We held our own."

Early on, it looked like the only good thing from a Team Dover perspective was the money raised, as the Blue Hens jumped out to a commanding 6-1 lead after one period. The Blue Hens got goals from Kevin Ladow, DiDonato, Chris Lambriakos, Greg Digioia, Matt Gumina and Trevor Richmond. The Eagles got its lone goal from Michael Roth.

In the second period, Team Dover came to life scoring five goals, trimming the Blue Hens lead to 9-6. The Eagles got goals from Corey Borque, Kurt Nemecek, Jason Melendez, Freehoff and Lothrop, while the Blue Hens got goals from Adam Lynch, Mike Steele and DiDonato.

In the third period, the Eagles could never get the score closer than three goals as the Blue Hens cruised to victory. The Blue Hens got goals from DiDonato, Sam Walrus and Nick Sioufas. The Eagles got goals from Lothrop and Freehoff.

Blue Hens head coach Vince Falkowski said the charity game was a lot of fun.

"Their captain, Matt Lothrop contacted us about having a charity hockey game and when said yes because it was for an absolutely great cause," Falkowski said. "So we got the two teams together, we had a fun day and I thought it went really well. Hopefully we can do it again next year."

Lothrop said in the end the goal is to raise the money.

"Their coach told me that they weren't expecting us to come and play that hard and to play that well," Lothrop said. "I think even we were surprised that we were able to keep the game close. We held our own and I thought we played really well."