Ice Hockey skates Cardinals

The CNU Ice Hockey team got off to a great start on the season with a 7-2 victory over Catholic University last Saturday at the Hampton Roads IcePlex.

The Captains jumped on top early and never looked back.

“We played relentless and didn’t let up,” said senior goalie Chris Wingo, who had a great night in the net for the Captains.

Five minutes into the game, senior forward Brian Bowser received a pass from senior defender Kevin Schreiber on a breakaway and put the puck in the back of the net to give the Captains the early lead.

That goal would be the only one scored in the first period, as the Captains went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes into the second period, junior forward Mark Dungan scored on a fantastic shot. Although he was quickly falling to the floor, Dungan still managed to beat the goalie to pop it into the net. He was assisted on the play by senior defender Tate Deitrich, along with Schreiber.

“We kept our composure throughout the game, even though sometimes we were sloppy,” said Dungan.

Two minutes later, sophomore forward Ryan Dove scored on a great shot in front of the net with the assist by senior forward Andrew Deitrick. Less than a minute later, the Captains struck again.

Bowser recorded his second goal of the game on a great pass from Deitrick.

With 12 minutes left in the second period, Catholic managed to scored their first goal of the game, which would have no impact on the Captains’ aggressive play at all.

As the second period went on so did the hits, whether it was on the open ice or up against the boards, bodies were flying and numerous penalties were handed out to both teams.

With less than seven minutes remaining in the second period, sophomore forward Chris Young dished out a beautiful pass to freshman defender Matthew Scott, who capitalized on it by giving the Captains their fifth goal of the game.

As the second period began to wind down, Dove scored his second goal of the game, off an assist from sophomore defender Kevin Koss, to send the Captains into the third period with a comfortable 6-1 lead.

The third period was the most physical one of the night.  Both teams were playing at a very high pace with one trying to counter on the others’ mistake.

Less than a minute into the third period, the Captains would score their final goal of the game.

The goal came when senior forward Bryce Evason sent a blistering shot into the back of the net on a pass from Schreiber, which was his third assist of the game.

Evason feels confident in how the team played by saying, “this is a good step in the right direction.”

As the third period started to come to an end, the Cardinals scored another goal, which would prove to be too little too late, as it seemed that the crowd already knew who won the game.

As the clock read zeros across the board to signal the end of the game, the Hampton Roads Iceplex erupted into cheers.  The fans tend to always have the ability to get the players hyped, “it’s ridiculous, I love it,” said Wingo.

The Captains still have a long road ahead of them, but starting the season with a victory is just what they had hoped for.

The Captains Ice Hockey team has set high expectations for themselves this year, as Evason said, “we need to strive for nationals, because if we don’t, then we shouldn’t be playing.”

The Captains are on the road the next couple of weeks, but return to the Iceplex on Oct. 2, as they take on Appalachian State University.

Adam Baker/The Captain's Log

Posted by Cody Lloyd on Sep 22 2010. Filed under Hockey, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.