Ann Arbor, Michigan- Clearly this isn’t your first semester EMU Hockey Club any more. The stands are filled with a raucous group of EMU Students, the Eagles are now back in the ACHA Rankings at #28 and are the winners of 7 of their last 8 contests, including five straight at home with tonight’s 6-4 victory at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube over the Kent State Golden Flashes.
This game was defined in two spurts. The First Period went the way of the Kent State Golden Flashes as they opened up the contest with the opening three goals of the game and set the tone in this one. It was a contest that was very, very chippy from the start with a lot of hard hits and a lot of nasty collisions. The scoring opened up at the 7:10 mark when Stu Smith scored for the Flashes to make the score 1-0. Three minutes later, the Flashes doubled their lead to 2 when Jason O’Bannon put the puck in the back of the net. Kent State added a third at the 16:12 mark when Chris Hourigan put the Flashes up 3-0. However, as seems to have been a theme with this year’s EMU Hockey Club, three goal deficit? Pfft, no problem. The Eagles scored a critical goal just 17 seconds later when Joe Schweiger began his Hat Trick on a nice shot that went past the Kent State goaltender and the Eagles would take a 3-1 deficit into the locker room.
The second period was all EMU from the start to the finish. The Eagles would end up scoring 5 consecutive goals in the period to take control. Ironically, the last time I remember seeing the Kent State Golden Flashes, their biggest problem was getting into penalty trouble and sure enough they fit that concept to a tee yet again. The Eagles on a 5 on 3 Power Play at the 3:28 mark cut the deficit to one goal when Chris DeRoche found the back of the net sending the student section into a rendition of the EMU Fight Song. Just 36 seconds later the Eagles took advantage of the rest of that power play when Schweiger scored to tie the game up at 3-3. Eastern continued their momentum and scored yet again 6:48 into the period to take the lead that they would not relinquish. Jeremy Osburn was the recipient of the tally and the Eagles were up 4-3. The scoring would cool off for about 7 minutes but the Eagles would take advantage of another power play opportunity and Joe Schweiger would finish off his hat trick 14:24 in to make the score 5-3. Just for good measure, the Eagles made it 6 when David Palmer scored 16:13 in. It was easily a great period for the Eagles as they controlled the play and took advantage of Kent State penalties to take complete control.
The third period was another solid one for the Eagles as they played solid defense to prevent the Golden Flashes from making any headway into that three goal deficit. Kent State would make the score 6-4 on a shorthanded opportunity with 4:01 remaining in the game when Jason O’Bannon would tally his second goal of the contest. Unofficially we have the score at 6-4 but as we were leaving the friendly confines of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, there was a report that Kent State was rewarded a goal at the 19:59 mark. So we’ll wait and see what they have to say about that, but bottom line the Eagles earned a critical 4 points in the CSCHL standings.
Honestly, you can tell that this Eagles team is beginning to gel on the ice. They are starting to play more as a unit and are really starting to pass the puck a lot better than they were in the beginning of the season. Of course everyone knows that in the world of hockey or any sport for that matter, winning or losing can become contagious. Right now, the Eagles are playing sound hockey and are doing it in an impressive fashion by coming back from behind in these contests.
Bottom line, it’ll be interesting to see if they can pull of the sweep tomorrow and perhaps make some headway coming into the ACHA Nationals picture.
Offense -> The Eagles did a solid job in the second period taking advantage of the opportunities that they were awarded in this game. The Eagles didn’t score a ton of those pretty goals that everyone loves to rave about but they scored the goals that count on the scoreboard. Passing is much improved and the Eagles took advantage of a Kent State team that didn’t seem to enjoy playing any defense. Grade: A-
Defense -> Defensively, I can’t complain from the second period on. The first period, the Eagles looked really flat across the board. Grade: B+
Special Teams -> The key to your game here was the Special Teams. The EMU Power Play has been steadily improving and are starting to really put the puck in the back of the net. Three power play goals on the night. That’s a good night. Grade: A
Goaltending -> Decent night overall for Cupit. Grade: B+
Overall -> The second period in this particular contest was about as good as I’ve seen the Eagles in a long, long time. Whatever the coach said during the intermission break, write that one down. How can you give a poor grade to a team that has won 7 of 8? Grade: A
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles look to increase the home winning streak to 6 games and are looking to complete the sweep tomorrow night against Kent State. Game is at 7:40 PM.
