With a pair of games at Boss Ice Arena, the University of Rhode Island women’s club hockey team had a productive weekend by splitting its games against strong opponents.
Starting with the game on Saturday morning against in-state rival Providence College, the Rams fell 4-2. Although the team was unable to pull off the victory, third-year captain Penny Spack said there were positives to take away from the game.
“It’s obviously not the outcome we wanted,” Spack said. “We’re [a] very young team right now. So we’re trying to build up all of our new incoming [players], whether they are transfers or first years. But I mean, in terms of today’s game specifically, I think that we did a good job with building throughout the game.”
Ahead of a showdown with the University of Minnesota on Sunday, Spack talked about how they would approach one of their toughest games of the season.
“Honestly, I think it starts with what we do right after the game that we just left,” Spack said. “It comes in our hydration, our stretching, what we put in our body [and] all of those things. And then it just comes with getting a good night of sleep and waking up tomorrow morning ready to go.”
Despite the loss on Saturday, Spack spoke about how they used the result as motivation for the matchup against Minnesota on Sunday.
“As soon as we come to the rink, our mindset is on the game and on the game only, as well as it’s kind of just as a captain setting up the locker room, setting up the environment and the space for people to be getting ready for the game,” Spack said. “I think all of us are probably a little bit angry about the outcome of today’s game, so hopefully that will bring in some momentum for tomorrow morning.”
The game with Minnesota resulted in a 3-0 win, and the team is looking to ride that momentum into a series with Penn State University on the road this weekend.
URI’s goals were scored with one goal each period. Spack scored unassisted in the first, third-year Jenna Stevens scored on the power play, assisted by third-year Jaryn Chubb, in the second and then Stevens found the back of the net again in the third, assisted by Spack.
“We’ve had some tough matchups to begin the season, so it was nice to secure a win in our fourth league game,” URI Head Coach Nikki Friesen said. “The girls have been doing a great job of truly playing to the systems and creating a positive environment both in the locker room and on the bench, so it was awesome for them to be rewarded on Sunday.”
Friesen is hopeful that the win will give them the confidence they need to go into the remainder of the semester with games upcoming against Penn State, Colorado State University and the University of Massachusetts.
