The men's hockey team stopped a four-game losing skid in a big way tonight, routing Cleary 8-1 at Southside Ice Arena. The win improves the Saints' record to 3-8 on the season, and the eight goals is the most scored by the team in a game since putting up 10 against Davenport in December 2018.
The Saints wasted no time showing the Cougars whose ice it was, taking a 1-0 lead just 40 seconds into the game when
Kyle Truax lit the lamp with assists by
Steven Gustafson and
Trent Kulczyk. Just 29 seconds later,
Ryan Wolfe made it 2-0 with
Nick Stockert and
Brandon Rozema earning helpers on the play. The scoring pace would slow for a while, but the Saints again would score twice in a less than a minute span midway through the period to blow things open.
Connor Matulaitis scored his first of the season at the 10:49 mark with assists by
Augustus Hickle and
Steven Nisbet, and
Darren Johnson scored 16 seconds later with assists by Truax and
Will Kortz. But the Saints weren't done in the first period, adding a fifth goal for a 5-0 lead at 17:14 when freshman
Jake Froysland, playing just his second game of the season, scored his first career AQ goal. Greg McQuad and
Thomas Davis assisted on the play.
The Cougars got one back early in the second period to make it 5-1, but the Saints regained their five-goal advantage with a powerplay goal at 14:02 by
Trent Kulczyk.
Brandon Rozema assisted on Kulczyk's second of the year.
Alex Klekotka would make it 7-1 minutes later, with Rozema and Wolfe with the helpers.
Steven Nisbet closed out the scoring with a goal at 17:59 in the third to make it 8-1.
Connor Matulaitis had the assist.
On the day, eight different Saints found the back of the net, with 15 players recording a point. Aquinas got multi-point games from Truax, Kulczyk, Rozema, Nisbet, Matulaitis, and
Ryan Wolfe. Rozema led the way with three assists. In goal,
Nick Ottenbacher earned the win with 17 saves on the night.
Aquinas will look for the weekend sweep tomorrow when they travel across state to take on Cleary once again. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm on Saturday, November 9th.
