Untimely Penalties Bite Golden Flashes
KSU drops a pair of one-goal games
Earlier this season, the Kent State University Golden Flashes A.C.H.A. D-I team focused on limiting the number of penalties they take, with the goal of having fewer penalties than their opponent in each game.
Now the Golden Flashes may want to turn their attention to their penchant for taking penalties at inopportune times.
Several untimely penalties resulted in a pair of one-goal setbacks in back-to-back College Hockey Mid America (CHMA) league games last weekend.
Kent (7-5-1, 1-1-1) dropped a 3-2 decision to John Carroll University to open last weekend’s play and allowed a late overtime goal into their net en route to dropping a 2-1 decision against Duquesne on Saturday. Duquesne’s game-winning goal occurred with less than a minute remaining in the extra period.
“As a whole it was the untimely penalties,” explained Kent coach Zach Nowak, “On Friday night we took a four-minute penalty with six minutes to go, and we were down one. In Saturday’s game, it was a one to nothing game and we took a penalty. As we killed that penalty, we took another penalty; so, the last four minutes we were (penalty) killing when we were up 1-0.”
That second, late third period penalty, resulted in the game tying goal for Duquesne, leading to the eventual game winning goal in overtime.
“Really poorly-timed penalties and they were avoidable as well. That cost us both games,” remarked Nowak.
The Kent State coach added that untimely penalties have occurred in each of the three Golden Flashes CHMA matches, including their lone league victory against West Virginia.
“The same thing happened in West Virginia. Fortunately, it didn’t bite us. We took a penalty when we were up 2-0 with a few minutes left and they scored on that penalty. West Virginia was able to pull the goalie and, fortunately, we scored an empty net (goal). That could have been a disaster.”
Aside from the challenge of the penalties, Nowak believed his team played well on Saturday against Duquesne.
“Overall, we played pretty well. We just could not put the puck in the net. We had a ton of shots and a lot of opportunities. Credit to Duquesne, they disrupted a lot of shots and blocked a lot of shots.”
THREE IN A ROW
Kent has a busy weekend on the horizon playing a home-and-home series against Cleary University (Howell, Michigan) on Friday and Saturday night and will face off against Eastern Michigan on Sunday in Ann Arbor.
As was the case when the Golden Flashes played Villanova in Buffalo recently, the game against Cleary will be the initial contest in the history of the programs.
“We are going into this (the Cleary series) kind of blind like we did with Villanova,” offered Nowak. “I am hoping our team is learning that it doesn’t matter what their roster looks like. We are going to have to show up either way; any one can win on any night.”
Kent hosts Cleary on Friday night at the Kent State University Ice Arena at 7:30 PM.
“We have had some really good crowds,” declared Nowak when discussing playing on home ice. “There are not a lot of teams that draw more than we do. It is super beneficial that we have the rink on campus.”
Sunday’s game against Eastern Michigan is the second of the season against the Eagles. The Golden Flashed skated to a 11-0 victory in an October match up.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a little bit of confidence going and play some good games this weekend. We’ll try some new things out, get back on track and get ready for some more league play,” Nowak said.
BlueLineNotes
> Koby Greenberg (1.54), Jason Smith (1.46), Zach Zwierecki (1.31) and Jonathan Gabriel (1.31) are all averaging more than a point a game in the Golden Flashes’ 13 games played. Hunter Hillebrecht has played in 12 games and has a 1.08 points per game average.
> Greenberg, who played with Wooster in the USPHL prior to playing for Kent, leads the team in goals scored with nine.
> Freshman goaltender Nicholas Beck has a .914 save percentage in the 10 games he has played.
> The Golden Flashes are 0-6 in games in which they are trailing after two periods of play.
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