Arizona hockey (13-2) finished the weekend out with a sweep of the UNLV Rebels (9-7) at home. On Thursday night, the Wildcats beat the Rebels by a close score of 2-1.
In Saturday afternoon’s game, after the Rebels put in a goal 22 seconds into the first period, the Wildcats put in their first goal of the game in the second period with 10:33 remaining. It was a power-play goal from forward Bayley Marshall that led to the Wildcats regaining their momentum. Marshall was assisted by forward Alex Johanson. The goal also resulted in a tie game at one point each, which remained until the end of the period.
The Wildcats then started the third period with a bang when forward Duke Litwin put an unassisted goal into the back of the net with 16:37 remaining. Litwin was followed by a power-play goal with 2:30 remaining from forward Kyle Wade, assisted by defenseman Ben Jones and forward Jesse Lowell. The Wildcats maintained their lead into the end of the third period. The final score was 4-1 Arizona to give the Wildcats a home sweep over the Rebels.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my group. Duke’s a great example, him getting the game-winning goal,” Head Coach Chad Berman said. “Any time you get a sweep in this league it’s a big deal, especially against that team. Then, when you factor in the adversity of our injury situation here, it’s just a really impressive win. This is going to be a win at the end of the year that we’re going to look back at for sure.”
Next up, the Wildcats will host their in-state rival, the ASU Sun Devils, on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
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