Freshman Corey Szabo scores URI’s first goal in a 3-1 win on Saturday PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Gigliotti
The University of Rhode Island men’s hockey team returned home for back to back games against the College of New Jersey on Friday and Saturday, adding both games to their winning streak.
This was the team’s first time playing against the College of New Jersey and even though there was an unknown factor about the team heading into the weekend, Rhody still came out on top. Friday’s game wasn’t the start to the weekend that the Rams had hoped for, however the team did not want that to be the tone set for the rest of the first game, as well as the game the following day.
During the first period, although there were 32 attempted shots, no one scored until later in the second period. During the first period, URI attempted 25 more shots than TCNJ. The significant difference showed that URI had made more of an effort to score goals in comparison to the opposing team. The College of New Jersey, however, was first on the scoreboard in the middle of the second period. That element gave Rhody more motivation to turn the game around, which they successfully did when the Rams scored twice on TCNJ’s goalie later during the third period, with URI’s goals coming from Senior Dylan Weichselbaumer and Sophomore Alex Cudd.
The final score of the first game was 2-1 win with Rhody taking the lead in the third period. Third-year Kevin Kanaczet gave an insight as to how the team was feeling after that win.
“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” Kanazcet said.
Less than 24 hours later, the two teams faced off against each other again. This time around, the teams had a better idea of what to expect from their opponents. On URI’s 34th attempted shot of the game, first-year Corey Szabo scored during the first five minutes of the second period. Not too long after that, first-year Ethan Coredio passed the puck up the rink to first-year Shane Mulhern as he took a shot and scored, making the score 2-0 in the middle of the second period.
Towards the end of the second period with three minutes left on the clock, third-year Justin Barcelou scored, closing the second period out with a 3-0 URI lead on the scoreboard. The College of New Jersey ended up scoring one goal in the third period leaving the score at 3-1 with another win for Rhody.
The team’s ego didn’t get the best of them after Friday night’s win. Their goal was to finish the second game with an even better outcome than the first game, according to Kanazcet.
Ending a week of practices on a good note is always the way to close up the week before a weekend of games. In his 33rd year of coaching, head coach Joe Augustine includes a specific drill the team runs through to tie up the practice and establish the energy for the next couple of days.
“I don’t know if the team has picked up on it, but I always like to end the practice before a game with a specific drill,” Coach Augustine said.
Preparing for a week of practices and two games back to back has become a consistent schedule for these players at this point in their hockey career. Heading into the start of any game, Augustine highlighted that it is important to be at least a little nervous at the beginning.
“If they don’t have any nerves that means they’re not prepared enough,” Coach Augustine said.
Both Augustine and Kanaczet agreed that the energy of the team started off strong and began to fluctuate over winter break. Now with the playoff season right around the corner, the team is on their final stretch. Looking forward they are going up against quality teams such as Stony Brook, Syracuse, and New York University in their last six games. They are currently on a three game winning streak and are hoping to keep that same vitality for the rest of their season.