Shane Mulhern sends a Syracuse defender to the ice before scoring URI’s second goal in a 3-1 win on Friday. PHOTO CREDIT: Connor Zisk
The University of Rhode Island men’s club hockey team had another successful weekend at Boss Ice Arena, defeating Syracuse on back-to-back nights by a score of 3-1 on Friday, and 2-1 on Saturday.
The Rams extended their win streak to seven games, and their home record to 17-1 – the fourth-best record in the program’s history.
Friday night saw goals from fourth-year Thomas Fagan, first-year Shane Mulhern, and first-year Zac Bell. Fagan put the first point on the board for the game halfway through the first period, only to be answered by Syracuse with a goal in the final minute of the period. After a scoreless second period, Mulhern took the lead back for Rhode Island in the final period. Bell put the game away later in the period with his goal.
Third-year goalie Curtis Briggs recorded 24 saves on 25 shots. Head Coach Joe Augustine had some high praise for the keeper.
“Curtis is just a model of consistency,” said Augustine. “There’s no doubt he’s the MVP of our team.”
Briggs played a big part in getting the win on Senior Night for the club on Saturday as well, recording a save on 24 out of 25 shots on goal. Third-year defenseman Jonathan Shaw found the back of the net halfway through the third period to take the lead after fourth-year Jackson Shevlin put one home for Rhode Island in the second.
“It was a shot from the point from Ronan Judge,” said Shevlin. “The goalie didn’t control it and I was able to get the rebound and put it in.”
The fourth-years were honored in a ceremony before the game for their service to the team. A carpet was rolled out for the players and their families. They were greeted with flowers and all got their pictures taken to remember the moment.
The night meant a lot to Shevlin, being able to celebrate the work he and his five other fourth-year teammates have put in over their time playing for the Rams.
“It was fun. We’ve been together for 4 years now and we all have a connection. It was great to have all of our families there and we had a good night,” he said.
It was a great game for all fourth-years as they all saw the ice, however, there are six fourth-years so not all of them got to start. Coach Augustine tried to be as fair as possible and left the last starting spot up to luck.
“Unfortunately we have six fourth-years and five starting spots, so the toughest part was trying to figure out who’s going to start and towards the end it came down to a coin flip,” Augustine said.
Despite the weekend sweep of Syracuse, Coach Augustine believes there was a lot to learn from in the two games.
“We never improved over the whole weekend,” Augustine said. “In fact Saturday was worse than Friday… In every game the mental preparation and getting ready to play is just as important as the physical part. We easily could have lost both games.”
Luckily, the team has two more opportunities to regain focus before the end of the regular season as they head up to New York University for a two game series on Friday and Saturday, and Coach Augustine is keeping an optimistic mindset for his team.
“Our road record isn’t very good so we just have to try and put this past weekend behind us,” he said. “The following week is the playoffs so of course you want to go in with some momentum. It’s about playing well at the right time and that’s next week.”
The Rams are third place in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) standings, and are ready to compete for the championship as playoffs start on March 3rd.