It was a mixed bag over the weekend for the Men’s Hockey team. The Clan won both games, but in extremely different fashions. The first game featured SFU coming back from a three-goal deficit and the ejections of their top defensive pairing to win in a shootout — the other saw SFU roar out to a 5–1 lead before winning 6–4.
“It was good to get on the road early in the second semester and come away with four points,” said Head Coach Mark Coletta talking to The Peak. “[It was a] good bonding trip for the boys, and we had some new guys in the lineup,” he said.
The first game on Friday night got off to a horrible start for SFU. Easter Washington managed to score two goals by the 8:56 mark of the first, both at even strength. It went from 100 to 0 for SFU real quick after that, as their top defensive pairing in Williamson and St. Pierre were both ejected for fighting. Eastern Washington scored on the ensuing powerplay to make it 3–0 and put the Clan in a huge hole.
However, SFU was able to battle back. A scoreless second led to an early goal by Brendan Lamont in the third, and goals from Robson Cramer and Saylor Preston tied the game at three heading to overtime. The game went to a shootout, where forward Tyler Basham scored the winner to give SFU an improbable three points.
“Well Friday night we had a bad start overall,” explained coach Coletta. “A couple of fighting majors that, while the referee’s discretion is always going to be his own, we didn’t think they should have been majors. So you’re down two defencemen right away, and then you’re down three to nothing.
“We got an early goal right away on the powerplay in the third, to make it 3–1, and that sparked the boys even more to find a way to battle. We just stuck to the systems and didn’t panic.”
Saturday’s game was a different tale. SFU was able to hold a 5–1 lead after two, thanks to some great shooting, as they scored three goals on nine shots in the middle frame. The third period saw Eastern Washington score three to make the Clan sweat a little at 5–4, but Matthew Berry-Lamontagna scored to restore a two goal lead and put the game to rest.
“I thought [the team] played really well,” said Coletta. “We came out in the first period and the second period way better than we had the night before. Our start was good, we kind of laid down in the beginning of the third there. But I think we weathered the storm and then went back to the game plan. We’ve been preaching stay the course, stay within the systems all year so far, and not trying to do stuff individually when you’re down a goal or two.”
The back-to-back situation meant a few players were able to make their season debuts. Dyllan Quon, Mak Barde, Mitch Crisanti, and Spencer Quon all made their debuts over the course of the two games.
“Dyllan Quon on the back end did a good job of jumping in and playing good defensive minutes for us,” coach Coletta elaborated. “Barden, Crisanti, and Spencer Quon did a good job of just finding their groove after four months of not playing any hockey games, and just practicing. [. . .] To be honest, there’s no substitute for practice versus games. I think they’re pretty tired after Saturday night.”
