Although the season is still in its early phase, the SFU men’s hockey team has already played the Eastern Washington Eagles three times. All three games have been drastically different, as this one was a lopsided win for the home team. Three first period goals gave SFU a big early lead, and they cruised from there to a 6–2 victory.
“I thought the effort level was really good,” said Head Coach Mark Coletta after the game. “The execution was good, and we found the net.”
“Everyone was going hard tonight,” remarked forward Brandon Tidy afterwards. Tidy came away from the match with a goal and an assist in the game. “We got a full team effort from everyone. [They all] did their part and we got a big win.”
Eastern Washington came out with a lot of energy, considering they had played the night before. Early on in the game, the shots were 8–1 for the visitors and SFU had barely any time in the opposing zone. But from then on, the period was all SFU. Adam Rossi opened the scoring with his first ever BCIHL goal, the beneficiary of a beautiful feed from Graham Smerek. Matthew Berry-Lamontagna added a second just under three minutes later, and Tidy scored to make it an early 3–0 lead.
The second period was all SFU. At the 6:19 mark, Tyler Basham went bar down to make it 4–0. Eastern Washington was able to make it a three-goal game briefly, with Paxton Bell crashing the crease on the power play to make it 4–1. However, just a few seconds later, Smerek was sent in all alone on a breakaway and restored SFU’s four-goal lead. The teams traded goals in the third to make it a final score of 6–2.
The key for SFU on the night was stopping forward Beau Walker. The Eastern Washington star had scored five goals in the previous two games between them, and on the night he was held to only a single assist.
“[We were] physical with him,” said Coletta afterwards. “Making sure that he knows that you’re there. You have to get him early and get him off his game a little bit. He’s always going to be very competitive, and Tommy [Assistant Coach Tom Spencer] did a good job making sure the right matchup was on the ice, and Jimmy [Assistant Coach Jim Camazzola] did a good job making sure the right defenseman was on the ice.”
Despite the scoreline, the game saw several injuries for SFU, with Jaret Babych and Darnel St. Pierre going down during the match.
“Babych got a knock to the head,” coach Coletta noted after the match. “I don’t think it’s a concussion, but definitely a good knock. So we want to take every precaution that we can with our players. St. Pierre took a puck to the inside of the knee; he should be fine.”
