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Two Up, Two Down for Kent State

By Jim Smith, 10/14/21, 9:00PM EDT

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Golden Flashes to play inaugural CHMA game Saturday

     Like an election night, the early returns are coming in for the Kent State University ACHA D-I hockey team.

     After opening the 2021-22 campaign with a two-game sweep of Rochester University, the Golden Flashes dropped a pair of games to Oswego State University the following weekend.

      “I truly think there is a lot of really good individual talent on our team, especially offensively” offered Kent State Head Coach Zack Nowak. “We were able to score a lot of goals the first two nights we played.”   

      Kent netted 15 goals in their weekend series with Rochester during their 6-4 and 9-6 victories.

      Numerous struggles plagued the Golden Flashes in their 8-2 and 3-1 losses against Oswego State.

     “We struggled with a variety of things that hindered us from getting opportunities,” Nowak said.

     Among those struggles for Kent was avoiding penalties and playing even strength hockey.

     “One thing we focused on was staying out of the box, because five-on-five, we think we are a very talented team. We have yet to play a game where we haven’t had more penalties than the other team. It’s tough when you’re playing down the whole time,” assessed Nowak.

     Overall, there is a wide range of “newness” to this year’s Golden Flashes.

     “It is definitely a big thing,” declared Nowak. “Considering we have new guys that have never played with some of our older guys and a new coaching staff; there are a lot of new things going on. There is a lot to work through and work on. There are a lot of question marks and there is a lot to be learned.”

      Recall that, in addition to freshmen playing their initial games at the collegiate level this season, the sophomores are also playing their first collegiate season due to the Covid cancelled season during their first year.

      “Our freshmen have been able to fill some of the big roles right away. We have had some freshmen that have seen some power play time, penalty kill time and generated some really good offense,” observed Nowak.

     Mindful that Nowak’s returning upper classmen are also experiencing a new coaching staff and structure, changes are   at a deliberate pace.

      “We are changing things piece-by-piece as we didn’t want to completely overhaul what a lot of the guys know. We wanted to learn and understand the guys a little bit better and then implement a structure that fits who they are and what we think we can accomplish as a group,” stated Nowak.

     This season also marks Kent’s entry into a new league, College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA), and the Golden Flashes will play their initial CHMA contest this weekend when they travel to the University of West Virginia on Saturday night.

      “It is going to be extremely important for us to come out with a win in our first league game. That will be an important win for us to make our goal to make Nationals. (The A.C.H.A D-I National Championship),” acknowledged Nowak.

     Kent hosts Eastern Michigan on Friday night prior their first road trip of the season for the West Virginia match.

BlueLine Notes

  • The Golden Flashes host Eastern Michigan at 7:30 PM Friday night at Kent State University Ice Arena.
  • Kent State and the University of Toledo will have a home-and-home series on Friday, October 22nd and Saturday the 23rd. The Golden Flashes and Rockets will face off in the Friday night series opening game in Kent at 7:30 P.M.
  • CHMA rivals John Carroll University and Duquesne University play Kent State November 5th and 6th, respectively. JCU hosts Kent at Gilmour Academy at 8:10 PM while the Golden Flashes face off against Duquesne at 6:10 PM at the Kent State University Ice Arena.​​​​​​​

--- Follow Jim Smith on Twitter @BlueLineNotes