UK ice hockey split a weekend series with the University of Akron at the Lexington Ice Center in its final regular season games before regional play begins.

Friday night, the McLaughlin brothers took control of the game early.

Junior forward Sean McLaughlin started off the scoring for the Cool Cats at the 14:11 mark in the first period. At the 13:17 mark, freshman forward Gray McLaughlin added another goal, putting the team up two.

“I hadn’t scored since my first game,” Gray McLaughlin said. “It was good to get back on track.”

Junior forward Billy Glass added another goal for UK later in the period.

The first period ended with freshman defenseman Jeremy Schmidt serving a seven-minute penalty (five for a cross check and two additional minutes for hooking).

After Akron scored early in the second period, Schmidt returned from the penalty box and quickly put the Cool Cats back up by three.

Sean McLaughlin added his second goal and senior defenseman Jay Morgan also scored in the second to put UK up 6-1.

Akron and UK would each score two goals in the third period making the final score 8-3 in UK’s favor.

“There were some good things and some bad things,” Gray McLaughlin said, “but we played all right.”

Saturday night was senior night for the Cool Cats.

Goalies Jim Borgaard and Derek Steinbrecher, forwards Josh Knicker and Sean Wormald, defenseman Morgan and team captain Andrew Serres were honored before the game.

Junior forward Michael Getz got UK on the board first, a little over two minutes into the game.

However, Akron scored a goal of its own in the first period, and the teams went into the first intermission tied.

Akron took the lead less than a minute into the second period.

“It took us a while to get going,” Gray McLaughlin said.

Glass then tied the game after UK kept Akron from extending its lead despite giving them a two man advantage.

Later in the second period, a questionable call erased a goal for Sean McLaughlin, but Serres officially put the Cool Cats in front 3-2.

Akron scored two more goals before the second intermission giving them a 4-3 lead.

At the 11:03 mark in the third, sophomore forward Dylan Rohar deflected a shot from junior defenseman Hunter Lyons into the net, tying the score 4-4.

Akron scored at 7:35 taking a 5-4 lead, which stood for the remainder of the game.

Gray McLaughlin said the difference between Friday and Saturday was, “We played a better game overall.”

Despite losing on Saturday, the Cool Cats’ spot in the regional tournament was secured before this weekend’s games.

“Our dreams are really realistic now,” Getz said.