11/26/2012

Over the holiday weekend, the UT Hockey team traveled to the University of Michigan-Dearborn to play three games against some of the best competition in the Great Lakes region.  The first Great Lakes Showcase brought together the teams from Eastern Michigan (DI), Western Michigan (DI), University of Michigan-Dearborn (DI), Grand Valley State University (DII), Michigan State University (DII), Saginaw Valley State University (DIII), Wayne State University (DIII), and your University of Toledo Rockets (DII).  Games against any team in this field would be a challenge but would serve the Rockets well as they prepare for what they hope to be a long post-season run.  Making this weekend even more challenging would be the mounting list of injuries the Rockets have sustained thus far.  Never the less, the Rockets looked forward to the challenge the weekend presented.

Things got underway Friday night with the Rockets facing off against Michigan State University.  The Spartans are currently ranked number one in the ACHA’s Central Region presenting a great test for the Rockets. The team never backed down and gave Michigan State all they could handle.  Inspired by Craig Trego’s play in net, the team fought hard for 60 minutes but could never gain an advantage on the scoreboard.  After giving up a goal early in the first period, the Rockets adjusted to the MSU pace and played them even the rest of the stanza.  MSU then added another marker part way through the second period, putting the pressure on the Rockets to find an answer.  Ryan Sell did just that with a breakaway goal to pull the Rockets within one heading into the third.  Senior defenseman Tyler Althouse then took advantage of a Rocket power play to tie the score at 2 with 16 minutes left to play.  The depth of MSU finally wore down the Rockets though and the Spartans managed to score with only 4:30 remaining.  The Rockets continued to fight but ran out of time.  Final score Michigan State 3, Toledo 2.

Day two of the Showcase featured the Rockets taking on DIII power Saginaw Valley.  Offense was again hard to come by in this match-up but at least this time, the limited scoring favored the Rockets.  Garryt Kujawa got things started in the first, staking the Rockets to a 1-0 lead before the end of the opening period.  Brent Bain kept things rolling in the second, snapping off a bar down snipe to give the Rockets a two goal lead.  Saginaw was able to answer with just over a minute left in the second period to give them some momentum going into the third.  Sell came up with another clutch goal though early in the period capping off all of the offense the Rockets would need.  Both teams would play out the rest of the period without finding the back of the net.  Final score Toledo 3, Saginaw 1.

The third and final day of the tournament presented another unfamiliar opponent to the Rockets; this time in the form of Western Michigan University.  The Rockets could not find a good rhythm early, getting badly outshot (18-8) and allowing the Stallions to take a 1-0 lead.  The team wasted no time correcting this though thanks to the line of Sven Weisser, Scott Girardi, and Kujawa.  The line combined on a pretty passing play with Girardi and Kujawa setting up Weisser for the first Rocket goal of the day.  The Rockets managed to hold Western at bay for the rest of the period but could not keep up the pace in the third.  They quickly gave up two goals which proved to be insurmountable.  Weisser managed to bring the Rockets within one but his second tally came with only 1.8 seconds remaining in the game.  Final score Western 3, Toledo 2.

While the results were not as planned for the Rockets, the overall effort of the short handed team was admirable.  This mid-season tune up should serve the team well as they prepare for the post-season.  It should also serve them well as they look to get their offense back on track against TSCHL opponents IUP, WVU and Cincinnati in the coming weeks.