Relentless offense, aggressive defense and stout goaltending earned the No. 24 Arizona men’s club hockey team its first two shutout victories of the season, as it thoroughly dominated Long Beach State by a combined score of 12-0.

The Icecats dominated possession and showed patience in the right spots as they moved the puck around at will and showed their selflessness. Nine Icecats scored at least once, and 11 had at least one assist.

“”We started (Friday’s game) a little flat, but we were able to build some confidence afterward, which is big for us with Michigan State coming to town next week,”” said assistant coach Dave Dougall.

Luke Edwall started between the pipes in Friday night’s 7-0 victory, as he saved 28 shots. Nick Boddy stopped all 20 shots he faced in Saturday’s

5-0 win.

“”Both of our goalies played great,”” said forward Brandon Robinson. “”They both definitely deserved the

games pucks.””

The return of defender Austin Capobianco to the lineup and a change on the power play seemed to spark the routs of the 49ers, as both players provided multiple highlights over the weekend at Tucson

Convention Center.

“”We had our backs against the wall (after being swept last weekend by Saint Louis), so we knew what we had to do,”” said Capobianco, who had five blocked shots. “”Our defense came out with the mentality that we had to block everything so we could finally get our goalies some zeros.””

Capobianco was the star of Friday night’s game, tallying the night’s first goal halfway through the first period after receiving a pass from Robinson. He then added an assist of his own when he fed the puck to forward Joe Del Rossi, who raced down the right side of the rink and took the puck in close before jamming it home.

“”Capo was huge on the ice for us,”” Dougall said. “”His defense was outstanding this weekend. He’s really matured this year with his leadership, and he’s helped us out a lot. It was big to get him back on the ice and playing.””

Another bright spot for the Icecats was the switch on the power play – a change that resulted in three goals when Long Beach State had players in the penalty box and two goals immediately after a power play ended.

With forward Robbie Nowinski sliding into a more defensive role on man advantages, the power-play unit finally seemed to get some consistency, in part because of the frequent opportunities provided by 17 49er penalties over the weekend.

Both games featured lots of hitting as the 49ers tried to goad the Icecats into fights, with several scuffles breaking out each game.

“”We were better skilled than they were, and they just got really frustrated,”” Capobianco said. “”So you just have to keep your head. You have to think ahead. I could have easily gone in there and gotten my DQ, but that wouldn’t have helped my team at all.””