The University of Arizona men’s hockey team (12-13) swept a two-game home series against the University of Central Oklahoma (10-16). The Wildcats won 5-2 on Jan. 31 and 3-2 on Feb. 1 in Tucson Arena. The Wildcats have now won three straight with their series win over the Bronchos and a win over the University of Utah on Jan. 25. This ties for their longest of the season, with their opening three-game winning streak.
Game 1:
Arizona started game 1 of the series with Hadyn Gould in the net. Through his first 17 starts this season, Gould had a record of 8-8-1 serving as the team’s primary goalie.
Central Oklahoma jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Sam Sykes with 14:31 left in the first period. After both teams failed to score on power plays, Arizona got another chance and delivered a goal by forward Wyatt Stefan to tie the game 1-1.
The second period started how the first period ended, with Stefan getting his second goal of the game just 39 seconds into the period to give Arizona a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats would double this lead later in the period on a goal by forward Tyler Shetland. Arizona would take a 3-1 lead going into the third period.
Central Oklahoma got within 1 off of a power play goal by Zach Guerra with 9:05 left in the game. Forward Riley Ruh was able to put the game away with a backhand goal with 5:12 remaining in the game to get the Arizona lead back to two.
With time running out in the final minute, Stefan was able to get another goal for a hat trick and gave Arizona a 5-2 win in game one of the series. Gould would end the game with 41 saved shots, only letting two into the net.
Game 2:
Gould also started game 2 of the series, looking to give the Wildcats a series sweep.
Like game one, Central Oklahoma scored the opening goal with Jayson Rebmann beating Gould to take a 1-0 with 7:01 left in the first period. Central Oklahoma would be the lone scorer in the first period.
The Wildcats were able to get onto the power play early into the second period and Ruh came through again to tie the game at one. The teams would be even at one going into the decisive third period.
Less than two minutes into the third period, forward Jack Kurrle gave Arizona a 2-1 lead on a beautiful pass by Justin Hughes.
Despite losing the shooting battle by 30, Central Oklahoma was able to tie the game on the power play with 1:29 left in the period. With no goals scored in the final 88 seconds, the game was headed to overtime.
The overtime period saw no goals be scored and the game was headed to a shootout.
Arizona was able to win the shootout with Gould stopping all three Central Oklahoma attempts and Ruh scoring to give Arizona a series sweep over the Bronchos.
Looking Ahead:
Arizona is now up to No. 8 in the Western Collegiate Hockey League standings with 25 points on the season. The Wildcats’ next series will be this weekend as they travel to San Diego State University on Feb. 7 and 8.
