HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - Traveling to North Carolina to open the 2021-22 season, the East Texas Baptist University hockey team made an early statement kickstarting their season with three straight wins at the North Carolina Showcase over the weekend. ETBU took wins from Elon University, the University of North Carolina, and High Point University to move to 3-0 on the season.
ETBU opened with a 7-1 thrashing of the Elon University Phoenix.
Filip Soderstrom was the story for the Tigers as he scored two goals and recorded three assists.
Dominic Desjardins also had a two-goal game for ETBU while
Devon Baird,
Trevor Begley, and
Carson Loos tallied the other three goals.
Tyler Fitzgerald faced 21 shots and recorded 20 saves.
The second game was a wild back-and-forth affair as ETBU scarped by the Tar Heels of North Carolina, 6-5. Tristen Aun scored a goal and had two assists while Soderstrom, Begley,
Dimitri Sergeev,
Avery Cook (assist), and
Corliss Emery netted goals. In his first start in goal,
Angus Laing notched 27 saves of the 32 shots he would make.
After falling behind early in the third game, ETBU rallied back to beat the High Point University Panthers, 6-1. Aun, Loos,
Jason Guntow, Desjardins, and Begley all had a goal in the game. The sixth goal was an own goal scored by HPU. Soderstrom and team captain
Mitchell Dolese recorded two assists for the game.
Nick Bozzuto would concede one goal in the game.
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Game 1: ETBU 7, EU 1
Both teams battled to a scoreless first period. Then, just 26 seconds into the second period, Baird notched ETBU's first goal of the season. Begley (11:41), Soderstrom (14:01), Loos (15:19), and Desjardins (18:25) added four goals to make it 5-1 after two periods.
ETBU added two more goals in the third period as Desjardins made it 6-1 at 9:22 while Soderstrom added a second goal (15:51) to make the final 7-1.
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Game 2: ETBU 6, UNC 5
The Tar Heels took off with two first period goals for a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. ETBU responded in the second period as Soderstrom was the first goal on the board 23 seconds in to cut the lead in half. After a UNC goal, the Tigers would tie the game with goals from
Dimitri Sergeev (6:39) and
Avery Cook (3:41) at three. With eight seconds to go in the period, Tristen Aun gave the Tigers the lead with a between-the-legs highlight trickle goal, 4-3.
UNC didn't back down as they retook the lead scoring twice in the third period. However, ETBU would again show their resiliency. With 12:06 to go,
Corliss Emery knotted the score at five. Soderstrom (9:47) then put the Tigers up 6-5 with under 10:00 minutes to go. ETBU's defense kept the Tar Heels from scoring in the final nine minutes to preserve the win.
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Game 3: ETBU 5, HPU 1
Despite falling behind 1-0 early in the game, ETBU would regroup and answer with three straight goals. Aun netted the first goal (13:49) while Loos (11:56) and Guntow (8:03) would put the Tigers up, 3-1, after the first period. In the second period, Desjardins (6:03) and Begley (3:40) pushed the margin to a four-goal lead, 5-1.
The third period was a defensive one as both goalies kept the opposing team from scoring. Ironically, it was an own goal by HPU that gave ETBU a 6-1 lead. ETBU left the rink as the only undefeated team in the Showcase.
ETBU will next on September 24th hosting Texas A&M University at 9:30 PM at George's Pond.
