The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays enter conference play this week with five consecutive matchups against Big 10 opponents. Heading into their next game at Michigan, the #16 ranked Hopkins has an overall record of 4-4. Losses came against Towson, Loyola, Syracuse and Virginia, while they picked up wins over UNC, Princeton, Mount St. Mary’s and Delaware.
The Blue Jays top three scorers are Joey Epstein (20G/8A), Kyle Marr (17G/6A) and Cole Williams (8G/11A). Kyle Prouty has an impressive .608 winning percentage at the X. Starting goaltender Ryan Darby has a 12.63 GAA and .495 save percentage.
Hopkins is currently fifth out of the six Big 10 teams. Ohio State is currently undefeated at 7-0. They are followed by Maryland at 8-1, Penn State at 7-1 and Rutgers at 5-4. This will be the first weekend of conference play for all six teams.
“We are very excited to start Big 10 play this weekend,” said junior co-captain Forry Smith. “We are viewing this as the start of a new season and we are excited to continue taking steps forward week in and week out.”
Their win over Mount St. Mary’s was their biggest of the season, 11-4. Mount actually got on the board first and led 2-1 after the first quarter. Hopkins turned things around in the second and outscored Mount 5-1 in a streak that included two man-up goals. They then outscored Mount 4-0 in a defensively spectacular third. Each team picked up one last goal in the fourth.
Joey Epstein led with a hat trick while Alex Concannon and Brett Baskin each chipped in a pair. Forry Smith, Luke Schilling, Daniel Jones and Jack Keogh had singles. Ryan Darby made 12 saves for the win. Epstein led all shooters with 11 shots.
Photos by Laura Kupsey. More here!
