Eastern Michigan University men’s club hockey snapped their six-game losing streak this weekend with two games against the Rochester College Warriors. The Eagles dominated both nights with scores of 5-2 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday. Andrew Duff was solid in net all weekend, allowing only five goals on seventy shots.
“It feels good the kids played well,” EMU coach Kevin Gee said. “They worked hard all week and they finished it off with six good periods of hockey this weekend. They were pretty good the whole way through,” Coach Gee stated. “I think the team showed and I think they maybe saw from each other that they do have the ability to change the way they play and the way that they prepare. It has a positive impact when you’re trying to break out of a slump. We definitely have to pick up points where ever we can and not give them away like we did last weekend.”
Jordan Roemer opened the scoring at Fraser Hockeyland (in Fraser, Mich) for the Eagles on a power-play goal with an assist from Nick Taurence at 12:38 of the first period.
Later in the period, Rochester scored to tie the game. It was all Eastern afterwards as they scored the next three goals in the second period.
“Nick was really efficient,” Gee said. “Friday night, we were missing Bryan Kozlowski and when you’re missing one of your two best players other people have to pick up the slack. Nick’s been in a little bit of a slump lately production-wise and he was very good. We expect our best players to be our best players all the time. Production like that is exactly why Nick is one of the top players in the league and why he is going to be on the university game scene.”
On Nov. 16, the Eagles returned to the friendly confines of Taylor Sportsplex to take on the Warriors at home.
Rochester struck first with an early goal in the first period. Bryan Kozlowski tied the game at 12:06 of the second period with assists going to Jake Koslakiewicz and Anthony Stankiewicz.
The Green and White took the lead in the third with a goal by Dean Gunther (assist Willis) at 12:55, but Rochester came back to score two and gain the lead. With 14 seconds left in the third, Robert Gasser was set up by Taurence and Kyle Astalos to force the game into overtime. At 4:40 in overtime, Bryan Kozlowski scored the game winner with help from Jacob Harbowy and Taurence.
“This whole weekend our top six forwards were very good,” Gee said. “I thought Bob Gasser was real good. You know he’s a Captain. He scored some really timely goals for us. I thought Kyle Astalos was good all weekend. Defensively, our rookie Defenseman, Dean Gunther, was really good. He had a big goal on Saturday to tie the game.”
The Eagles are almost half way through their season and starting last weekend, the Green and White began an 11-game stretch against a majority of teams who are unranked. This will allow them a chance to improve their overall record.
EMU will take on Davenport University on Fri. Nov. 22 and Sat. Nov. 23, with both games at the Taylor Sportsplex.
