SHREVEPORT, Louisiana - On a night where three of their members were honored for senior night, the East Texas Baptist hockey team would put together a late surge where they would score four straight goals en route to a 7-4 victory over the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. ETBU now has a 15-6 record overall on the season.
Before the game, ETBU honored three seniors in the players of Colt Bouma,
Carson Combs, and Mike Garvie for their respected careers and for setting the foundation for ETBU Hockey after two seasons. But on this night, it would be a freshman
Riley Knott who would have a big impact in the win by scoring a hat trick.
When the game started, each team would have opportunities to score early, but were denied in the first eight minutes. ETBU would strike first on a goal by
Riley Knott (9:59) to lead 1-0. But SMU would answer back on goals scored by Chris Brown (16:53) and MacDowell Johnston (18:01) to lead 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
One second after a power play for ETBU ended in the second period,
Albert Wiggins tied the score (2:07) at 2-2. SMU would then recapture the lead with a Conner McGovern goal (5:32) to lead 3-2 only for
Hunter Matthews (8:11) to tie up the score at three. The Mustangs soon retook the lead at 4-3 on a Sager Shah goal (14:43) before Knott (15:07) would deliver his second goal of the game to even it at four. A costly penalty by SMU would give ETBU a power play, which they would take advantage of as Garvie (18:02) gave ETBU a 5-4 lead through two periods.
In the third period, another penalty by the Mustangs would allow the Tigers another power play. This time, it was
Dylan Legarie (1:13) who would score to make it 6-4. Knott (7:14) would end up scoring the seventh goal by completing his hat trick moments later. ETBU's defense would help them hold SMU scoreless in the third period as well as their penalty kills. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the game, ETBU secured the 7-4 triumph.
ETBU will play their final home game against SMU tomorrow at 2:00 PM at George's Pond.
