Hockey drops four matches
The GCSU club hockey team suffered four tough defeats when it competed in the Ft. Myers tournament in Florida on Nov. 13-14.
The final team the Bobcats faced in the Ft. Myers tournament was Kennesaw State University on Nov. 14.When the game started, the Bobcats were first to seize the lead over the Owls when freshman forward Andrew Smith scored an unassisted goal just 1:06 into the first period.
Less than two minutes later, Kennesaw tied the score on a Keith Lawson unassisted goal.
Kennesaw then took control of the game when in less than five minutes after their first goal, they scored three more goals to put the score at 4-1.
GCSU attempted to decrease the goal margin when freshman defenseman Matt Shrum scored a goal with an assist from freshman forward Sam Lisicia to set the final score of the first period at 4-2 with the Bobcats trailing.
In the third period, Kennesaw continued to spread the score gap when they scored three goals in less than two minutes to set the final score at 10-3.
“It was a really upsetting game to play because the last time we played them we beat them and this time they won in kind of a blowout. To play so well against them the first time and to have such a poor performance the second time was really disappointing,” senior forward Jeff Brittain said. “Hopefully we’ll have another opportunity to beat them again. This was not what we wanted to end on for the weekend.”
The first match the Bobcats played in the Ft. Myers tournament was on Nov. 13 against the University of Florida.
The Gators quickly took control of the game when at 1:12 into the first period they used the power play technique to score the first goal against the Bobcats.
Florida continued to increase their lead when they scored three more goals in the period to go up 4-0.
Florida came out strong against the Bobcats in the second period when they scored less than 30 seconds into the period.
At 3:05, the Gators placed another goal into the Bobcat net and set the final second period score at 6-0 in their favor against GCSU.
By use of the power play, GCSU was able to eliminate the Gators chance of a shutout when Smith scored an unassisted goal at 11:19 to set the final score at 7-1.
Four hours after their game against Florida, GCSU faced the University of South Florida in their third game of the tournament.
In the first period, the Bulls took control over the game when they secured a 2-0 lead against the Bobcats.
When the third period began, the Bulls scored at 43 seconds in to take a 5-1 lead. Determined to keep fighting, the Bobcats began to turn the game around when Brittain scored an unassisted goal at 1:37 to cut it down to 5-2.
GCSU made a strong comeback when Smith, with assists from Lisicia, scored two goals in less than 20 seconds of each other to put the Bobcats trailing by one at 5-4.
When 9:51 had passed, the Bobcats tied the game when Lisicia, assisted by Smith, sent the puck into the Bulls’ net to tie it at 5-5.
When 10:43 had passed, South Florida scored an unassisted goal against the Bobcats to set the final score at 6-5.
“It was the most fun game all weekend. They had a short bench just like we did, so as far as matching goes we were on the same level and had the same fatigue,” Brittain said. “We gave it our best and came back hard but it was a few costly mistakes towards the end of the game that kind of lost it for us. It was no individual teammate’s mistake; we just collectively fell apart.”
Later that day, the Bobcats suffered a tough loss against the Florida Gulf Coast University, 10-1.
The single Bobcat goal was from Brittain with an assist from Cantrell eight minutes into the second period.
“I agree with the phrase, you learn more from losing than winning, but it’s more fun to win,” Brittain said. “Considering our short bench and the amount of travel we couldn’t get down on ourselves too much. It was not a great note to end on this semester, but the team is hopeful towards next semester. We’ve put this semester behind us and we’re looking to improve on next semester.
Although the hockey season is not over, the Ft. Myers tournament concludes the tournaments that GCSU will have for the fall semester.
The Bobcats will be back in action Jan. 29.
“We’ll be in Snellville for the first tournament of next semester,” Brittain said. “We’ll come back when school resumes next semester and have some hard practices, warm up our new goalie and work on improving our record.”
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