Most people leave Las Vegas empty-handed, and for the Icecats this weekend, that was certainly the case.
Arizona (2-5) went into its two-game series against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (11-2), with a ton of confidence, but left without a win.
The Icecats were coming off of a 2-1 record at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Showcase, but poor play along with a slew of penalties and injuries resulted in a pair of losses.
“”It wasn’t a good performance at all,”” said head coach Leo Golembiewski. “”It was probably our poorest performance of the year.””
In game one, Arizona came out of the gates strong, taking a 2-0 lead off of goals by sophomore Andrew Treptow and junior Jordan Schupan, but eventually falling 7-4.
After entering the second period up 2-1, things got out of hand quickly. Arizona was called for six penalties in less than 10 minutes, allowing UNLV to score an unheard of five power play goals, three of which came from a two-man advantage.
“”I don’t ever remember a team getting five power play goals, and for three of their five power play goals they had a two-man advantage,”” Golembiewski said. “”I don’t care if you have (former NHL goalie) Glenn Hall in the goal, it just makes it tough.””
To add to the Icecats’ troubles, they lost one of their most effective offensive players, freshman Brian Slugocki. Slugocki came into game one leading the Icecats in goals scored, but was forced to miss the remainder of game one as well as game two due to a concussion.
The Icecats also lost starting freshman goalie Dave Herman with six minutes remaining in the second period due to a knee injury. He was replaced by fellow freshman Ben Case.
UNLV ended the second period up 6-3 and ultimately won the contest 7-4. Schupan was the sole bright spot for the Icecats in game one, posting his second hat trick in five games, but his offense wasn’t enough.
Game two of the series was much of the same, as Arizona lost 8-2.
With Case making his first start as an Icecat, the team got down 0-3 early and never had a chance to mount a comeback.
“”You can’t do anything about the fact that our goaltending the second game was certainly not up to par,”” Golembiewski said.
Despite another goal from Schupan and a goal from freshman defenseman Nick Stolz, the Icecats ended up losing the contest.
Although the Icecats have had a rough start to the season, Golembiewski is still optimistic about the remainder of the season.
“”It’s been an interesting first seven games,”” Golembiewski said. “”But with 15 guys getting a chance to play college hockey for the first time, it’s quite a learning experience.
“”I feel that it’s going to be a great season, there’s no doubt about that,”” he added.
