San Diego State hockey had their second win of the weekend with a 8-1 victory over Long Beach State on Nov. 23 at the Joan Kroc Center.
The Aztecs were able to notch their second victory despite being on tired legs after a 6-2 victory over crosstown rival UC San Diego on Friday Nov. 22 at The Rinks Poway ICE.
Aztecs defender Brian Milner grabbed possession of the puck two minutes into the first period and took a shot to score, giving SDSU its first point of the night.
Seconds later, Long Beach State (4-9-1, PAC 8 Conference) proved that they were still in the game as forward Francis Lemay had a breakaway drive that led to a one-on-one shot on Aztecs goalie Nick Ilvento. Lemay took a backhand shot that went right past Ilvento to even the game at 1-1.
Aztec forward Artem Klein got his team back in the lead by taking a shot to score with 15 minutes remaining in the first period.
Despite the Aztecs having the lead, Long Beach State was able to maintain an equal amount of possession over the puck. It was a back-and-forth effort between the two teams.
With three minutes remaining in the first period, Milner took a double minor penalty to give the 49ers a power play for four minutes. This put Long Beach in position to take control of the game.
SDSU forward Devyn Taras refused to allow that to happen as he took possession of the puck, drove it down the rink and passed to forward Andrew Hoy who scored a shorthanded goal.
“That got our whole bench going,” SDSU head coach Phil Bateman said. “Devyn and Andrew generated (the energy) and we never let up after that.”
Devyn’s breakaway moment led him to be named the SDSU player of the game.
The Aztecs (18-3-1, PAC 8 Conference) carried that energy into the second period from the moment the puck dropped. Sophomore forward Derian Theberge came into Long Beach territory with force taking a shot that bounced off of goalie Adam Moroz. Forward Mickey Sullivan was right there to take the rebound shot to score.
Less than 30 seconds later, Theberge found Sullivan again who took a shot to get his second goal of the night.
“Derian had a good move and I was right where he passed it and it all worked out there. It felt really good,” Sullivan said of the goal.
Bateman added that Sullivan and Theberge played together all last year on their freshman line.
“Those two goals on the same shift really came off a pattern that they remember from each other,” he said.
The scoring deficit forced Long Beach to have a goalie change as they pulled out Moroz and put in Brandon Rex.
The goalie change was still not enough for Long Beach to withhold the Aztecs as Hoy took a shot that gave him his second goal of the night. The Aztecs ended the second period with a five-goal lead.
As the third period began, the Sullivan-Theberge line was able to make a connection yet again. This time, Sullivan passed to defender Adrien Wisch who found Theberge. Theberge scored the Aztecs’ seventh goal of the night.
“Mickey and I have played together before. We played all last year. We finally got to play (on a line) together again this game and it was a lot of fun,” Theberge said.
The Aztecs added one final goal from senior forward Aaron Meyer to end the game with an 8-1 victory over Long Beach and clinch 18 wins on the season.
“This team in its history has never hit 20 wins. We’re at 18 and 3 right now. The team knows that and they want to be that team. We’re hoping to get to 25 on the season,” Bateman said.
SDSU will next visit Long Beach State on Dec. 6 in Lakewood, hoping to get its 19th win of the season.
