An incredibly challenging and revealing month of hockey continues for the Kent State University Golden Flashes A.C.H.A. Division I team.

     Kent is in the middle of a four weekend stretch of games against Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League foes and three of those four opponents find themselves in the top 25 of the A.C.H.A. Men’s Division I Rankings.

     The Golden Flashes began the stretch by splitting a two-game series with Eastern Michigan and most recently dropped a pair of games to 16th ranked Calvin College.

     The Calvin College series exposed a young Kent squad to the ills of not being completely prepared for a contest while losing 5-0 last Friday yet revealed their resiliency in a narrow 4-3 defeat on Saturday.

     “Our guys were not prepared for the game on Friday,” declared Kent State head coach Jim Underwood. “In the first period we looked slow, unorganized and our compete level was not at its best.”

     “That was the first period in about five games that we looked pretty bad and that set the tone for the entire game.”

      If there is a positive take-a-way from that opening night loss, it maybe that one of the Knights’ goal was an empty net effort and the final goal of the contest slid across the goal line as time expired.

     A different Golden Flashes squad seemed to appear at the Kent State Ice Arena on Saturday night in the tightly contested series ending match.

     After trailing 4-1 with 15:00 to go in the third period, Kent rallied to close the gap to 4-3 within a four-minute span but couldn’t net a game tying goal.

     “Saturday night was really a great hockey game,” observed Underwood. “Our guys battled from start to finish and it took us to the third to break through.”

     “Give credit to Calvin. They have one of the better A.C.H.A. goalies out there. He (Darin Fox) is very big, athletic, moves well in his net and his rebound control is phenomenal.  We had to work our tails off to scrape three goals on him. They are a great team and he is a big reason why.”

     Overall, Underwood noted the continued improvement of his team as the Calvin series concluded and the season moves forward.

     “I think our power play is solving some of the early season problems we were having. We had excellent opportunities, good pucks to the net and good scoring opportunities. To go 25 percent on a weekend against a team that is good, with great goaltending, is very positive for our power play.”

     Next up for the Golden Flashes is a home-and-home series against the number one ranked Adrian Bulldogs.

     Adrian (16-0) has outscored opponents 119-17 in 16 games and have amassed seven shutouts during the undefeated stretch.

     The Golden Flashes’ coach knows special teams play and team defense will be critical against the high-scoring Bulldogs.

     “We are going to need our special teams to keep the puck out of our net on the penalty kill and find the back of their net on the power play because scoring goals five-on-five is going to be difficult against them.”

     The scoring prowess of the Bulldogs has the Golden Flashes focusing on their defensive systems and structure as the weekend series approaches.

     “Our message is to prepare to play a lot in our own zone and when the puck is on our stick and we have an opportunity to make a play, we have to make those count every single time,” explained Underwood.

     “Turnovers inside our defensive blue line is going to result in extra time spent in our (defensive) zone. If we give Adrian an extra 10 to 15 shots a game, they are going to make you pay for it.”

BlueLineNotes:

--The Golden Flashes open the Adrian series on Thursday night at 7:00 PM in Adrian. The squads travel back to Kent State Ice Arena for a Friday night 7:30 PM puck drop.

--After the Thanksgiving break, Kent State concludes the fall semester portion of their schedule on December 6th and 7th against Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Oakland is ranked 25th in the A.C.H.A. Men’s Division I Rankings.

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