Eastern Michigan’s men’s club hockey team dropped in the standings again, losing all three games this past weekend.
The Green and White played at home at Taylor Sportsplex in Taylor, Mich. on Friday and Sunday, and away at City Sports Center in Detroit, Mich. on Saturday.
“I thought some of our younger players were pretty good,” EMU head coach Kevin Gee said.
On Friday, Eastern lost in overtime 4-3 to Wayne State University at home. The Eagles scored in the first period but still lagged 2-1. They came back in the third period to tie things up, but the Warriors prevailed in overtime.
The Eagles’ three goals were scored by Bryan Kozlowski (4:20 of first period), Zachary Willis (7:35 of third period, power play) and Clayton Hodges (2:07 of third period, power play).
“Friday night, our freshman backup goalie Brian Ellis played [and] he played real well,” Gee said. “He got us a point. We were down early in that game and he hung in there and battled and we got a point out of it so in my opinion that was a positive. He played real well and made some saves down the stretch there to protect the tie that we had going so we made sure that we earned a point.”
Saturday, the team took on Wayne State and failed to score more than a goal, falling to the Warriors 4-1. The Green and White scored their only goal of the game shorthanded in the second period. Jason Simota scored and was assisted by Nick Taurence at 14:19.
The Eagles headed back home Sunday to take on the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies in another disappointing 8-2 defeat.
EMU was tied in the third at 2-2 but were unsuccessful in their attempts to overcome all of the numerous penalties they were assessed in the third. Anthony Stankiewicz (16:36 of second period) and Kyle Astalos (15:02 of third period, power play) produced the two goals in this game.
“The penalty kill is usually our strong suit,” Gee said. “The problem is when you test it as much as against teams especially like Oakland, you run the risk of being really disappointed with the penalty kill. That was certainly the case against Oakland. They were five for eleven on the power play which if you take those five power play goals away. That’s the whole third period.”
Gee summed up the weekend’s games by saying that the Eagles team took the Grizzlies too lightly. He feels they are a much-improved team and are extremely disciplined.
He attributed the losses to EMU having very little energy in the games and not competing at a high level. He felt the Green and White had no discipline and gave the Warriors chances to score that they would not have been able to generate on their own.
Looking Ahead:
The next chance EMU has to snap their six-game losing streak will be on Nov. 15 against Rochester College (6-7) at Great Lakes Sports City in Fraser, Mich.
