San Diego State club hockey opened its two-game series against Long Beach State with a score usually reserved for football. The game had a slow start, aggressive middle and ended with the Aztecs winning 10-3.
“It was a slow start,” said defenseman Mauricio Schmidt, who scored the Aztecs eighth goal of the night. “We were ready. We had our game plan going.”
The Aztecs’ first goal of the game was an unassisted shot with 11:39 to play in the first period by defenseman Christian Gerrits.
Long Beach’s goaltender, Corey Jones, held the Aztecs off until 2:55 remained in the first period when forward Hayden Bolls scored with assists from forwards Travis Sevilla and Patrick Miller during an Aztec power play.
The second period yielded five goals by the Aztecs with three goals coming less than two minutes apart.
The first goal of the second period was scored with 12:14 left to play by Sevilla with an assist from Gerrits. The next goal came 1:08 later by forward Brandon Neveu. The third goal came 42 seconds after that by defenseman Josh Nobida.
Long Beach had an opportunity with 8:51 to play in the second period when defenseman Matt Bouchard went back in the penalty box for the third time, except the 49ers could not capitalize on the power play.
SDSU scored two more times in the second period: another goal by Bolls assisted by Sevilla and an unassisted goal by forward Aaron Mayer.
Long Beach scored its first goal of the game in the beginning minutes of the third period when forward Tanner Bleyle got one in on a 49ers power play.
The Aztecs scored three more goals in the third period.
Schmidt scored his goal with assists by Mayer and forward Anthony Mata with 9:54 remaining in the third period.
SDSU’s Sevilla scored his second goal of the night with just over eight minutes to play in the third period, and then assisted Miller with the last goal of the night coming with just 56 seconds remaining in the game.
The third period also saw Bouchard penalized and ejected from the game for misconduct with an intentional head-contact hit. It was his fifth penalty of the game.
“He has a lot of things we need,” coach Ted Powers said of Bouchard, who joined the team less than two weeks ago. “He’s aggressive. He can bring some energy. He can lay some big hits.”
But when those big hits get you kicked out of the game and possibly jeopardize your presence in future games, a discussion needs to be had, Powers said.
“We need to find a line where he’s aggressive, where he’s doing all those things we need him to do, but doing them smart,” Powers said.
The Aztecs face a tough schedule in the second half of the season with eight road games, but Powers likes playing away from home because it brings the team closer together.
“Typically we play better on the road,” Powers said. “There’s less distractions, everybody’s together.”
SDSU is 2-1 on the road coming off winter break. It beat Texas A&M 5-1 and University of Texas 12-2. It lost 7-5 against Texas State University.
Aztecs goaltender Conner O’Brien likes the road games, too.
“They’re hard, but they’re also the most fun,” O’Brien said. “It’s a bonding and growing experience off the ice, which results in good performances on the ice usually.”
O’Brien had 28 saves on 31 shots against the 49ers and said the big saves are momentum-changers.
“Obviously I feel like those are key in some situations,” O’Brien said. “I make a save and the whole team is jazzed up and it shows on the other end.”
