The FGCU Hockey Club remained No. 1 in the Southeast Region after two intense games against the Northeastern Huskies on Feb. 7-8. The Eagles fell short on Friday night with a 6-4 loss. Saturday’s game was a turnaround for FGCU with a 6-0 shutout.
The first goal of the game Friday was completed at the 10:32 mark by Hudson Small, a forward for the Huskies. Northeastern’s goaltender Luke Garrity stopped all nine of FGCU’s shots on goal during the period.
Senior forward and captain Jack Cohen capitalized on a power play to score the Eagles’ first goal of the night. The remaining three goals of the period belonged to the Huskies. Forwards Lucas Confalonieri, Nicholas Larkin and Leo Byers put the puck in before the period’s halfway mark, which resulted in a 4-1 lead for Northeastern.
Four minutes into the third period, forward junior Ryan O’Halloran punched in the second goal of the game for the Eagles. Forward senior Jake Court added another point to the tally for the Eagles on a power play.
Northeastern scored shortly after with a goal from Larkin. Cohen then netted his second goal of the night. The Huskies were the last to score with an unassisted shot by forward William Rinaldi. This resulted in a 6-4 loss for the Eagles.
“We have to take every moment that we’re playing and put our best foot forward,” head coach Eric Mabie said. “Friday night, we didn’t do that. We had a good third period, but it just wasn’t enough. Then, leading it to Saturday, we knew we wanted to respond and end the season on a high note and I think we did that.”
Sophomore forward Jordan Comilla began game two, scoring on a power play. This resulted from Northeastern’s penalty from Alexander Tilgner for high sticking. Cohen and sophomore forward David Walsh kept this momentum for scores to give FGCU a 3-0 lead in the first period.
Eagles’ kept the momentum into the second period, with junior forward Shayne Tomlinson scoring at the 4:22 mark. This was followed by junior forward Adam Beauvais, who secured the Eagles’ fifth goal of the night.
Junior Jaiz Barner put the puck back into the net, leaving the scoreboard at 6-0 for a shutout game for the Eagles.
Goalies Decaire and junior Paolo Suppa saved all 27 shots attempted on them and saved the last shot by Northeastern in the final minute.
“The next three, four weeks, we’re going to spend honing in on what we feel like we do best, really getting better at those things, and just playing to our strengths,” said Mabie. “Being ready for whatever gets thrown at us, preparing for the adverse, and be preparing for good, bad, all the above.”
FGCU has secured the No.1 seed for the ACHA National Championship in St. Louis, Missouri on March 11-15.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we got that number one seed that we were looking for and now it’s about performing in the postseason, which is the best time of year to play,” Mabie said. “So, we’re looking forward to getting to St. Louis, and putting our best foot forward and performing there.”
