It was a classic David vs. Goliath battle on the ice at the Forum Center last weekend. The underdog Billikens went up against two of the top teams in the nation. However, the Bills quickly realized that collegiate hockey is no biblical narrative. The Billikens fell victim to second-ranked Eastern Michigan in a Friday night thrashing, but SLU received new life on Saturday afternoon with an upset victory over fifth-ranked University of Michigan-Dearborn.
“We had a pretty decent weekend. We got a rude awakening on Friday night. Eastern Michigan is the second-ranked team in the nation and they played well. We didn’t play well,” said coach John Bosch. “The bright spot is we know what it is like to play the top teams in the nation. We know how to play the best and we will only get better.”
The Eagles from Eastern Michigan backed up their pre-season ranking by storming the ice with an 11-1 victory over the Billikens. The lone goal for the Bills was scored by senior wing Jasson Price during a SLU power play. According to Bosch, Price was one of the few bright spots in Friday night’s loss. The entire game was controlled by the Eagles who jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.
“They (Eastern Michigan) are not 10 goals better than us. I think a lot of the guys were feeling butterflies in their stomachs. Whenever the 15th-ranked team in the nation is taking on the nation’s second-best team, it can fluster the players a bit,” Bosch said. “We are a young team and many of the players have not been in this type of situation. It allowed them to grab an early lead. But there are no excuses. We didn’t make the grade on Friday night.”
For the Bills, Saturday was a different story. The Billikens were able to water down the beating from the night before with a 6-2 upset victory over highly ranked Michigan-Dearborn.
Sophomore center Daniel Gauthier took the game into his own hands with a “natural” hat trick. Gauthier sent three-straight goals past the Michigan-Dearborn goalie.
“With Gauthier playing like he did and Casey Martin making key saves at goal, it is indicative of what these guys are going to do this year for us,” Bosch said.
Martin turned down 36 of the 38 shots against him. Freshman defenseman John aided Martin by playing uncharacteristically-smart defense for a freshman, according to Bosch. Gauthier’s goals were supplemented with scores by freshmen Mark Shoreman, Matt McComy and senior Brian Elder. Elder also had two assists to Gauthier. Bosch credits sophomores Jon Zimmer and Chris Peterson with giving Gauthier a little extra jump and some room to operate with the puck.
“The attitude on Saturday was intense. The players knew they needed to execute better and they did that. We were so much more competitive and that paid off.”
The Billikens ended their weekend with a second match-up with Michigan-Dearborn on Sunday. The Bills got a taste of their own medicine, however, with a 9-3 loss dropping their record to 1-2-0.
“We put in a great effort for about two periods. But I think the three game weekend caught up with us. The older guys started getting tired and the younger guys are just getting used to the pressure. The freshmen are on a learning curve right now, but they received good experience this weekend,” Bosch said.
Bosch was impressed with the play of the freshmen over the span of the weekend. He was happy with their improvement and believes that the more experience they get now will help them in the long run. Sophomore Adam Brouk and freshmen Mike Reed and Jordan Janes were accountable for three goals.
The Bills will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. tomorrow for two games against Western Michigan at Lawson Arena on the Western Michigan campus.
“We are 1-2 and this is a great chance to get back in the win column.
Right now our mentality is that we can go up there and win two games. Saturday’s win gave us the confidence to give us a boost. Playing within our conference is driving us to be a better team. We are focused on these next two games. We think we are a better team now,” Bosch said.
Bosch believes that it is a great time for a road trip.
“The team needs to do a little bonding and they need some time to gel together as a team. We need the experience to go out on the road and try to win some tough games,” Bosch said.
