Kent State University Hockey Update
Freshmen stepping up early for Golden Flashes
As the Kent State University A.C.H.A Division I ice hockey team readies for their first series of the 2019-20 season against a Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League (GLCHL) foe, they are coming off a weekend series in which the advantages and challenges of a young roster were displayed.
The Golden Flashes split their series with the Toledo Rockets last weekend, earning a convincing 9-4 win in the opener in Kent and then dropping a 4-3 decision in Toledo the following night.
While Kent State head coach Jim Underwood has mentioned on several occasions that his entire freshman class has exceeded early season expectations as a group, first year forward Hunter Hillebrecht and goaltender Ben White led the class in the Toledo series.
Ben White
Hunter Hillebrecht
“That was (White’s) first career college start,” proclaimed Underwood. “I thought he played very well. The goals against were not an indication of how he played. There were stretches in the first period where we broke down defensively and gave up a lot of chances. Ben did a phenomenal job of shutting those down. We were outplayed the entire third period and it could have easily been a 9-7 game had Ben not been on top of everything.”
Hillebrecht, a Kent native who coincidentally had Underwood as a coach in his “Learn to Play Hockey” days as a youngster, exploded for six points (2-4-6) during the Toledo series and now leads the team in scoring this season.
“This is kind of what we were waiting for and it just took (Hillebrecht) a few games to get it going. He sees the ice very well, is well conditioned, plays with his head up and distributes the puck to his line-mates in good situations. I am very pleased with his performance and not surprised by it,” said Underwood.
Underwood pointed out that there is “a long list of freshman that are exceeding expectations and if we can get everybody going on the same page we are going to be ahead of the curve of where I thought we would be.”
Part of that learning curve is the ability to “finish” games and the Kent State coach observed that the third period on Friday and the game on Saturday exposed the youthfulness of his team.
“You have a team in your own rink down 8-2 going into the third period, and your going to see them the next day on their home ice, and we gave them momentum going into Saturday’s game because of that third period. We didn’t finish the game off.”
The Golden Flashes open GLCHL action this weekend, hosting the Western Michigan Stallions.
“When you only have 12 league games every point matters,” assessed Underwood. “It’s has to be a six-point weekend. We are going to expect Western to be strong, fast and physical. We have our hands full going into the weekend and this is probably our best competition to this point in the season.”
After seven games this season, Western Michigan owns a season record of 3-4-0 and a has trio of forwards averaging more than a point per game: seniors Wyatt Ford (1.86 PPGA), Corey Siwula (1.17 PPGA) and freshman Drew Wotta (1.29).
BLUELINENOTES:
---The Golden Flashes host Western Michigan at the Kent State Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday night. Both contests start at 7:30 PM.
---The Kent State A.C.H.A. Division III team is also home on Saturday at the Kent State Ice Arena. The DIII Golden Flashes face off against Mercyhurst at 4:15 PM.
For hockey insights and updates, follow Jim Smith on twitter @BlueLineNotes
