Scattered equipment dotted the ice on Saturday after a huge team brawl between the Arizona club hockey Icecats and the St. Louis University Billikens in the first period of Saturday night’s game.
“”Hockey’s a physical game,”” said Icecat head coach Leo Goembiewski. “”St. Louis doesn’t have our speed. They get in our way and the only way they can stop us is by clutching and grabbing, and the Icecats can dish it back if we have to.””
A total of 158 penalty minutes was committed by both teams as the No. 15 Icecats (11-8) beat the unranked Billikens (2-16) 6-2, avenging a 5-3 loss the night before.
Three Icecat defensemen – Austin Capobianco, Zach Stommen and Max Sliwinski – will miss next Friday’s game against the University of Scranton because of suspensions resulting from the fight.
Goalie Nick Boddy was solid Saturday night, shutting out the Billikens’ offense until the middle of the third period. The sophomore goaltender finished the game with 36 saves.
The Icecats took a quick three-goal lead in the first period with forward Jake Allison getting his first career goal in just his second game as an Icecat. The freshman joined Arizona for the second half of the season from a Junior-A hockey club in Canada.
“”I came out here for something different; I got sick of the politics up there,”” Allison said. “”Plus I wanted the college experience.””
But Allison was tossed from the game in third period after an altercation with Rex Szyper of the Billikens.
On Friday night, the Icecats outshot the Billikens 55-27 while controlling the tempo of the game, but the Billikens pulled away with their second victory of the season.
“”We didn’t play with urgency,”” Golembiewski said. “”We decided St. Louis wasn’t worthy to be on the ice with us, and they beat us.””
Luke Edwall had 22 saves in goal on Friday.
“”The goaltending was solid,”” Golembiewski said. “”(Edwall) just got beaten on a few shots upstairs, but perhaps we don’t give him enough of those shots at practice.””
St. Louis jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first, but Arizona cut the lead down to 3-2 at the end of the second with goals by junior defensemen Zach Stommen, and sophomore forward Cody Morin.
The Billikens took a two-goal lead in the third with 7:30 left in the period, but with just under two minutes left in the game, senior forward Bryan Meagher scored the Icecats’ third goal of the night.
But St. Louis would put the game away with an empty net goal with seven seconds remaining.
