The Bulldog hockey squad, fresh off a long Christmas holiday, made its way to Tupelo for their first spring games. Awaiting the Dawgs were the LSU Tigers in the form of a two game weekend set. The Tigers brought along a record of 1-7-2 while the Dawgs posted a record of 3-4-0 before the mid-season break, after ending the first half of the season with dominant wins over Ole Miss.
Friday’s game was a wild shootout which lasted over three hours and featured fifteen combined goals. The crowd of 2,200 at the BancorpSouth Arena was thrilled from beginning to end as the bulldogs pulled off a dramatic 9-6 victory.
The Ice Dawgs went in to the final period with a 4-2 lead and looked to be in control. The two teams traded early goals and went into the final twelve minutes with the Dawgs on top 6-3. The Tigers quickly struck back and staged a furious rally to tie the game at 6-6. The game changer came with just over four minutes left on the clock when Ryan Nash slapped in a goal to give the Bulldogs the lead for good. Two more late goals were added as the Dawgs were able to outlast the tigers 9-6.
The Dawgs were led by freshman R. C. Martin who scored three goals, nabbing the hat trick. The man between the pipes was Mike Miller who said the late rally showed his team’s toughness.
“We came out pretty flat,” he said. “But towards the end we found enough of a spark to pound home a few goals and get a win.”
Game two of the set would not be so kind to the Ice Dawgs as they ran into a stiff LSU defense. Forward Patrick Swartz said the LSU goalie was much improved Saturday.
“He just showed up a lot better than last night,” Swartz said.
What the Dawgs lacked in scoring they made up for with physicality as the two teams had plenty of brutal exchanges.
With just over two minutes left in the game and a 6-2 lead the Tigers began to get a little overzealous towards the Bulldog bench. The Dawgs would have none of it and a melee ensued bringing the crowd of State fans to their feet and resulting in the ejections of four Bulldogs and one Tiger. LSU tacked on one last goal to bring the final score to a 7-2 LSU victory.
The coach of the Ice Dawgs, Mike Mayhew said he was a bit disappointed in the loss, but excited about the fan support.
“The fans were absolutely incredible,” he said. “To be Division III like we are and to bring in 2,680 fans is phenomenal.”
The Saturday loss was disappointing, but after dropping both decisions to LSU last year Swartz said the team is encouraged by the solid Friday night victory.
“Obviously, Friday was a good night,” he said. “We worked hard and the puck just bounced our way when we needed it to.”
Categories:
Ice Dawgs return, split weekend series, fight with frozen Tigers
Kurt Pinnix
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January 12, 2010
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