AUSTIN, Texas – Traveling to the capital of the Lone Star State for a two-game series, the East Texas Baptist University hockey team saw their four-game winning streak come to an end as they were swept by the Longhorns of the University of Texas in two games. The Tigers are currently 4-6 overall on the season following the losses.
Game one would see the Tigers fall 9-3.
Michael Candido,
Michael Garvie, and Maason Sprott would each score a goal for ETBU with
Riley Knott leading the Tigers with two assists. In game two, ETBU would keep the game close, but came up short losing 3-1. Nicholas Scott would have the only goal for the Tigers in the game on the assist by
Skyler Spiller.
Game 1: UT 9, ETBU 3
Much of the first period would be tight defensively for both sides as both
Tyler Fitzgerald and UT goalie Sean Kuehn would keep the opposition with limited scoring chances. Only a goal by Alec Pillar (6:45) gave UT a 1-0 lead, which they would keep into the first intermission. Forty-four seconds in the second period, Garvie would equalize on an assist from both Knott and
Devon Baird. But Pillar would answer forty-six seconds later (1:30) to put UT back up by one at 2-1. The one-goal deficit stayed firm until 16:35 when Candido would score with the assist to
Albert Wiggins. By the end of two periods, ETBU and UT were locked in a 2-2 tie.
That would change in the third period as six-and-a-half minutes would go by in the third before the Longhorns would score the first of what would be five straight goals in the next eight minutes. It was 7-2 in UT's favor before ETBU would score in the period from Sprott (15:02) to cut it to four. But UT would tack on two insurance goals to seal the win at 9-3.
Game 2: UT 3, ETBU 1
The first period was the same as the first with the goalies not allowing many scoring chances. Yet again, it was the Longhorns who got the only goal (4:34) as Brendan Legas found the net for a 1-0 lead. The period would end that way going into the second. Instead of ETBU tying the game, the Longhorns with Keuhn's defensive performance would add to their lead with two goals by Ryo Yoshida (9:54) and Legas (12:03) to give UT a 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
At 4:09 in the third period, the Tigers would get on the board as Scott would get the goal making the score 3-1 in UT's favor. ETBU would keep within that deficit as Buzzuto prevented any goals from the Longhorns throughout the period. Despite his brilliant performance, the Tigers were unable to get closer as UT would shutout the Tigers for the remainder of the game.
ETBU will continue their road trip next weekend when they travel to Mansfield, Texas to take on Dallas Baptist University. Friday night's game one will be at 7:00 PM while Saturday will see a 6:30 PM start for game two.
