No. 17 Arizona captured its first sweep of the season when it defeated the ACHA Division II Michigan State Spartans during a two-game series in Tucson. The Wildcats won 4-2 on Friday night and then 5-2 on Saturday night.
“It’s good to get two wins and feel confident,” Arizona head coach Chad Berman said. “We improved on our power play, and we were able to touch up on our inconsistency as far as competitiveness.”
On Friday, forward Dylan Carter scored during a power play to put the Wildcats up 1-0 during the first period.
During the second period, Spartan Trevor Mcsween scored to take a 2-1 lead over Arizona.
Once again, capitalizing on the man-advantage, a goal from Robbie Wilkinson tied the game 2-2 at 11:48 in the second half. Wilkinson, who scored the go-ahead goal against Colorado during the Nov. 1 game, gave his team a chance entering the locker room for somebody to be the hero.
Arizona took the lead when captain Shane Gleason scored his third goal of the season only 24 seconds into the third period.
“Overall this weekend, we did a great job, and we have a lot to build off of,” Gleason said.
Forward Roy Grandov extended the lead to 4-2 with less than five minutes left to secure the victory for Arizona.
The Wildcats went 2-5 during power plays and 4-0 during penalty kills on Friday.
During the second game on Saturday, Arizona had four different Wildcats score.
Kyle Griffin had six points so far during the season but only from assists. However, Griffin scored two goals against Michigan to rack up eight points for his season total.
Defenseman Alex Vazquez and Gleason also both scored against Michigan, while Wilkinson had a short-handed empty net goal at the end of the game.
Goalie Austin Wilson started his second game of the season and is now 2-0 on the season.
“I came here to play hockey, and obviously, I have a lot of fun doing it,” Wilson said. “But Garrett Patrick is a solid goaltender, and I think it is going to be a battle going down the stretch between us two. I think that’s positive, because … how you get good goaltenders is battling every day.”
Arizona hockey continues next weekend as the Wildcats host NAU on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Minot State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
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