On the brink of the annual Egg Bowl at Davis-Wade Stadium, the Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry made an appearance on the ice Friday, as the Bulldog club hockey team won the first ever Egg Cup at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo.
After splitting a two-game series Oct. 24 and 25 at the DeSoto Civic Center, State (2-4) routed the Ice Rebels (1-6) 10-0, capturing the new trophy after a best of three series. The award borrows features from the Egg Bowl trophy and Stanley Cup and will feature the winning team’s roster each season.
The Ice Dawgs would go on to complete the shut out of Ole Miss in front of an estimated crowd of around 3,000, according to MSU team secretary Patrick Swartz.
To win in that kind of atmosphere was a huge confidence builder for the Ice Dawgs, team president Alex Palmer said.
“It wasn’t the fact that we won 10-0, but it was that we had so many people in the stands with cowbells,” he said. “We felt like celebrities.”
As the first shut out for MSU hockey, it meant a lot to the team who has seen its share of ups and downs the last couple of years, junior goalie Chris Pinelli said. In an early season stretch, the Bulldogs were outscored 39-4 by SEC opponents.
“To show that we can be competitive is nice,” he said. “To get a shutout with that many shots shows how well I can play. I have to give all the credit to the guys in front of me. The defense played great.”
The Oakville, Ontario, native was credited with stopping 41 shots at the net helping to keep the shutout alive.
“It’s a really big deal for our goalie,” Swartz said. “Chris hadn’t had one yet, and we wanted to play hard for Chris. For him to get a shut out and us have 10 goals on the board, it really brings a team together.”
Sophomore forward Will Walker obtained his first career hat trick with three shots finding the back of the net, while seven other players split the points with one goal each.
Walker, a Cordova, Tenn., native, now leads the team with seven goals on the season.
Featured in the game was a fireworks show as players on both teams seemed to get blown up followed by “oohs” and “aahs” echoing throughout the crowd after each bone-jarring hit. The penalty box seemed to never be empty as both teams had up to three players representing the two sides in the box at one point.
“The crowd rattled Ole Miss a little bit,” Swartz said. “Our coach told us going into that third period, with them down a few goals, they’re going to give you as many cheap shots as they can.”
MSU sophomore forward Joseph Lamerson acted as a brick wall at moments in the game as Ole Miss players fell victim to Lamerson’s pounding hits.
“It’s the best feeling,” he said. “I hit someone and got back to the bench and someone asked, ‘Did you hear everyone cheer after you hit that guy?’ And I didn’t hear anything.”
The 6’4″, 210-pound North Carolina product attended Fredonia State University in New York, about an hour from Buffalo. However, he injured his knee before games even started and was out the entire season before looking to transfer.
Lamerson looked online to see if hockey was a possibility at schools such as North Carolina, North Carolina State, Ole Miss and MSU.
“I wanted to come back down to the South,” he said. “I wanted to have a way to meet people. If MSU didn’t have hockey, I probably wouldn’t have come here.”
Ole Miss is in its first season in the Southeastern Hockey Conference while the Ice Dawgs’ second season got much sweeter with both wins coming against the Rebels and winning the first ever Egg Cup.
MSU played an inconsequential fourth game with Ole Miss Monday. Due to production times, The Reflector was unable to provide coverage. The club team’s Web site is dawgicehockey.org.