Hockey struggles at Division Two Tournament
October 14, 2013
By Char Grimm | Hockey beat writer
UK hockey dropped a pair of games this weekend during the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division Two Tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The first loss came to Northern Michigan University by a score of 7-3 on Friday. The Cats fell to Robert Morris University, 2-0, on Saturday.
“We need to learn how to produce offensively and defensively,” senior forward Ryan Thomas said.
After one period of play, UK (3-5-0) and Northern Michigan were tied at two goals each. Junior forward Charlie Hales scored both goals for the Cats.
Junior forward Andrew Baron would net the final UK goal of the game on a power-play in the second period to tie the game at three.
Halfway through the second, UK was called for seven penalities in the final 30 minutes of play.
“We got frustrated and that can’t happen,” junior defenseman Gray McLaughlin said of the penalties taken by the team.
Northern Michigan would defeat the Cats 7-3. Senior forward Kellan Michalak scored five of the seven goals against the Cats.
The Cats went on to face Robert Morris University on Saturday evening. UK fell to the Eagles despite the Cats’ defense limiting Robert Morris to two goals.
“We gave them entirely too many chances. If we can keep them to two goals, we should be producing offensively,” freshman goaltender Tucker Boyle said.
Robert Morris took the lead when senior forward Nick Webster with 3:04 to play in the first period. With twelve minutes to play in the second, they would beat Boyle to net the final goal of the game.
“We shouldn’t ever be content with zero goals. That mentality needs to change,” McLaughlin said.
The Cats see a lot of room for improvement, despite being generally pleased with their defensive efforts Saturday night.
“We need to practice, learn to get more chances,” Thomas said.
UK has next weekend off and the team is looking forward to the chance to recuperate.
“We’ll use it to eliminate some bad habits we have fallen into and to heal. We have a couple injuries that will do well with the rest,” said Boyle, who earned a laceration below his eye during Friday’s contest. Baron and junior defenseman Jacob Cohen also left Friday’s contest with injuries.
The Cats played Sunday against Ferris State University and return to the ice Oct. 25 at the University of Toledo against the Rockets.
