The Arizona club hockey team started the new year on the right foot by getting head coach Leo Golembiewski his 600th career win as the team swept Saint Louis University over the weekend at the Tucson Convention Center.

“”Six-hundred wins is a great milestone, but it was never the focus coming into the game,”” Golembiewski said. “”The focus was to try to get a sweep against Saint Louis.””

After three weeks off for winter break to think about a mediocre first half of the season, the Icecats responded with a 12-7 win on Friday night over the Billikens.

On Saturday night, the team didn’t respond quite as well as it had the night before, but a goal by senior defensemen Zach Cherney and an empty-net goal by Brady Lefferts in the third period allowed the Icecats to complete the sweep with a 6-4 win.

This was the second time Arizona has swept the Billikens this year, with the last time being in October in Saint Louis with 6-2 and a 6-3 wins.

Though this weekend’s sweep highlights Arizona’s current three-game winning streak, a two-game series against ASU before the holiday break was the series that seemed to give the Icecats some momentum heading into the second half their season.

In the first game, ASU clearly was the better team as it cruised past Arizona 5-1.

But the Icecats came out with a sense of urgency the following night that they hadn’t shown the entire season.

With 15:23 to go in the second period, Robbie Nowinski scored on a breakaway goal to tie the game at 2 just as ASU appeared as if it might pull away like in the previous contest.

Going into the third period with the score tied at 4, the Icecats wasted no time as junior forward Cody Morin scored a goal 32 seconds into the period.

After the early goal, the Icecats took the momentum away en route to an 8-6 win over ASU a night after being embarrassed on their home ice.

“”I’ve never seen so much emotion in the locker room,”” said senior Brandon Robinson. “”This game really brought us together.””

In a game that saw several scuffles between the teams, a referee had to be taken to the hospital after being cut across the face with a player’s skate while trying to break up a fight.

The Icecats hope to have similar results this year in the second half of the season as they did last year. The team won 12 of their 13 games last year after tProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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holiday break and will likely need to play almost flawlessly to be invited to the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio in March.

The team will attempt to add to its season-high three-game win streak this weekend against Michigan State at the TCC on Friday and Saturday night.

“”We have a tough road ahead of us with a tough Michigan State team and Adrian College … followed by six straight road games,”” Golembiewski said.