Julien Benjamin—Staff Writer
Kennesaw State’s club ice hockey team continued its strong play over the weekend, defeating the Florida State Seminoles to extend its winning streak to six games.
The Owls (12-3-1) and the Seminoles faced off Friday in Kennesaw and Saturday in Columbus, Georgia. KSU won Friday’s match 9-3 and Saturday’s by a score of 8-5.
The Owls started fast in Friday’s matchup, scoring four goals in the first period. The scoring started with a goal by Jarod Dible, less than three minutes after the puck drop.
“We were doing a good job pressuring them,” Kennesaw head coach Sean Bernhardt said. “We were putting pucks to the net.”
KSU allowed a goal to FSU late in the first period to bring the score to 3-1, but the Owls then scored five straight unanswered goals from Devan Bousquet and Paul Arnout Kalmeijer in the second period. Larry Adegoke completed his hat trick in the second as well, scoring the eighth KSU goal of the night.
“He’s (Larry) been one of our top contributors all year, so it’s pretty much expected at this point,” Bernhardt said. “We got off to a good start, got to our forecheck early. We’re starting to come along. We have got to get pucks deep, bang bodies and be physical.”
KSU would go on to score their final goal more than halfway through the third period, bringing the score to 9-2. At this point, the Owls pulled their starters off the ice, and FSU was able to trim the deficit to six with a goal scored off a fast break, leaving the final score in favor of Kennesaw, 9-3.
Less than 16 hours after the conclusion of game one, KSU was back in action against FSU, this time from Columbus, Georgia. The team started slow in the second matchup, but they soon took control.
“The travel threw us off a little bit, we definitely got started a little slow,” Bernhardt said. “Nobody had legs. The forecheck was non-existent for us in the first half, and guys weren’t doing their jobs. We were down most of the first two periods; we came back, figured it out, and took the lead.”
Despite this being the tougher of the two games for KSU, they held a lead at the end of each period over the weekend, finally claiming an 8-5 victory over FSU on Saturday afternoon.
One game remains for KSU during the fall portion of their schedule, and Bernhardt wants his team to finish strong against Life University on Nov. 22. “We want to improve our forecheck, and clean things up defensively in that game.”
