The 0-2 Bearcats improved to 2-2 in stunning fashion October 15-16 by defeating the Eastern Kentucky Ice Colonels on successive nights. Friday night, the Cats’ offense burst open to score five goals in the win, while Chris Deutsch turned away 22 of 23 shots to get his first win of the season.
Deutsch, who is 1-1 now, raised his save percentage from 87% to 90% with the one-goal game against Eastern. Jeremy Gould scored his first two goals as a Bearcat in the first and second periods, and Christopher Poptic and JB Keller also scored in the second period. Travis Slater gave the Bearcats the insurmountable finish with a power play goal in the third period, capping off the exciting evening.
On Saturday, Slater and the Bearcats returned with a vengeance. Slater had four assists, Keller had three more points, and Adam Kozinn had eight penalty minutes prior to the final buzzer, just before 3 a.m. at the Lexington Ice Center.
Steve Cappella made his first start for UC and allowed five goals, but it wasn’t enough for Eastern to topple the Bearcats, who scored eight goals on the Ice Colonels, including five in the first period alone.
While the players are still being found too often with their “hands in the cookie jar” (16 penalty minutes on Friday, 28 minutes on Saturday), the team is progressing amazingly on defense. The amount of time spent playing in their own zone has decreased immensely, and the team has bolstered the blue line and focused on spending a great deal of time in their opponent’s zone.
If UC continues to play as they have been, the 0-3 Radford University Highlanders should be no challenge over Halloween weekend. The Bearcats will also be back at home November 5-6, against Appalachian State at the Cincinnati Gardens, and again November 11-12 against Eastern Kentucky.
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