Men's Varsity Dominates Finlandia-Sweeps the Lions

The Men’s Varsity team took on the Finlandia Lions in a two game series at Arrington Ice Arena on December 4th and 5th. The Bulldogs would walk away with the sweep and four points, outscoring the Lions 17-3 over two games.

Sophomore forward Taylor McCloy would lead the Bulldogs with 2 goals on Friday night. McCloy notched the first goal of the game, and the season, 5:49 into the contest off of a rebound from freshman Trevor Boyd’s shot. Boyd and freshman Josh Shellman would grab assists on McCloy’s first tally of the night. Finlandia would tie the game ten minutes later and the scored would be even at 1 after the first frame.

Junior Daniel Lisi gave the Bulldogs the lead once again less than three minutes into the second period. Freshman Chase Matson and senior Adam Davies would be awarded assists on Lisi’s goal. McCloy struck once again on the powerplay at 10:06, grabbing his second goal of the game. Boyd and sophomore Matt Thompson assisted on McCloy’s second goal. Finlandia would cut the Bulldog lead down to one once more with 4 minutes remaining in the second. Thompson gave the Bulldogs a solid 4-2 lead with 17:30 gone in the game, fellow sophomore Kyle Brothers and junior Jeremy Olinyk would assist on Thompson’s goal. The Bulldogs would head into the final frame with a comfortable 4-2 lead.

Freshman Brian Bachnack would grab his first collegiate goal with 7:16 gone in the last period of play. Junior Brett Pinkerton and freshman Bryan Yim would grab assist’s on Bachnak’s goal. Yim would grab a goal three minutes later, assisted by junior Michael Hoy. Brothers would grab the seventh Bulldog goal of the night with 14:41 gone in the third. Thompson would grab the lone assist on Brothers’ goal. Olinyk would cap off the scoring for the Bulldogs with fewer than three minutes remaining in the game. Brothers and Thompson would assist on Olinyk’s goal. Final score was 8-2 and shots on goal were 56-27, both in favor of the home team.

Freshman goaltender Kevin Entmaa would grab the win for the Bulldogs, turning away 25 of the 27 shots he faced.

The second game of the series took place on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals being scored by Trevor Boyd and Austin Rust. Taylor McCloy and Connor Armour would assist on Boyd’s goal and Brian Bachnak and Cory Dunn would get the helpers on Rust’s goal.

Bryan Yim would notch a powerplay goal 2:06 into the second period, giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. Braden Hellems and Jeremy Olinyk would assist on Yim’s powerplay goal. The Bulldogs would strike again 32 seconds later when Brent Sauve knocked in his third goal of the season. Pat George and Daniel Lisi would assist in Sauve’s goal. Finlandia would score their only goal of the game shorthanded at the 11:16 mark. Jeremy Olinyk would make it 4-1 before the second was over, with assists going to Chris Leone and Bryan Yim.

Yim would grab his second goal of the game less than four minutes into the final frame. Kyle Brothers and Jeremy Olinyk would grab assists on Yim’s second tally. Chris Leone would score four minutes later, giving the Bulldogs a commanding 6-1 lead. Rust would be the third Bulldog player to have a two goal game against the Lions, scoring a powerplay goal at the 14:24 mark of the third. Blake Butzow and Cory Dunn would assist on Rust’s powerplay goal. Leone would close out the scoring for the Bulldogs, scoring off of a shot from the opposite blueline that found its way past the Finlandia goaltender.

Junior goaltender Tyler Parks would earn the win, blocking 7 of the 8 shots he faced. The Bulldogs managed to send a whopping 70 shots at the Finlandia goaltender.

***Carly’s 3 Stars of the Weekend***

1* Taylor McCloy: McCloy picked up 3 points (2G-1A) in the two game series and created offense and took shot after shot, getting playing time on the powerplay unit. McCloy also had a knack for backchecking and playing the defensive side of the game this weekend, covering for defensemen when needed.

2**Jeremy Olinyk: Olinyk tallied an impressive 5 points this weekend (2G-3A) in two games. He also had multiple quality shots each game and seemed to create quality chances every time his line was on the ice.

3***Trevor Boyd: Boyd also grabbed 3 points (1G-2A) this weekend. Boyd took shot after shot at the goaltender and was also a fantastic net front presence, aggravating both the Finlandia defensemen and goaltender.