Hockey picks up pair of wins against Central Michigan over the weekend

(Rochester Hills, MI) - The Rochester Christian men's hockey team continued its season over the weekend, taking on the Central Michigan Chippewas. The home and home series saw the Warriors grab a pair of wins and give them a three-game winning streak. Following the pair of games, the Warriors have a 3-3-1 record on the season. 

GAME 1 - RCU 11, CMU 8

The Warriors started off the scoring in the first period just six minutes into the game off the stick of Jake Mullins with an assist from Shaun Zatelli. The two teams would continue to trade goals throughout the rest of the 14 minutes in the period with Andrew Beausang grabbing both RCU goals with Cole Zalewski and Connor Fredricks-Stebbins each recording an assist.

The middle period would see an explosion of goals from both sides as they would combine for nine total goals. RCU would net goals from Shaun Zatelli, Aidan Baker, Jake Mullins, and Kyle Hauer. Mullins would score a pair of goals in the period to give him a hat trick on the game. Mullins, Hauer, Andrew Scott, Maxximus Savel, and Connor Fredricks-Stebbins all added assists. 

The third period saw Andrew Beausang complete his hat trick nearly halfway through the period, which would also become the game-winning goal. Shaun Zatellie and Cole Zalewski would add a couple of insurance goals to close out the match.

Nicholas Spognardi (2-1-1) played the full 60 minutes in net for RCU. Spognardimade 32 saves against the 40 shots he faced. 

GAME 2 - RCU 9, CMU 5

The second game of the weekend saw more spark from the RCU offense as they were able to put up nine goals. Preston Stenzel was the highlight in this game putting up a hat trick. 

Andrew Scott was the lone goal scorer in the first period getting assists from Brody Vachon and Griffin Heralsteen. CMU would also record a goal in the period.

The second period saw the Warriors offense net a season high six goals. Cole Zalewski got the scoring started early, scoring less than 1 minute in and Preston Stenzel nabbed his first goal just 45 seconds later. After two CMU goals, RCU would tally four more goals in quick succession. Shaun Zatelli (2x), Preston Stenzel, and Maxximus Savel would record goals. Hayden Wilson netted a pair of assists while Andrew Beausang and Connor Fredricks-Stebbins tallied a single assist. 

A quick pair of CMU goals would bring the game to a close 7-5 game. Jake Mullins would respond once again on the weekend grabbing a goal on a penalty kill. The match would end with Preston Stenzel finishing out his hat trick with 57 seconds remaining. 

Cody Pachota (1-0-0) would nab his first win of the season, playing the full 60 minutes in net, making 30 saves against the 35 shots he faced. 

TOP PERFORMERS

The offense was led by Jake Mullins and Shaun Zatelli, scoring four goals over the games. Andrew Beausan and Preston Stenzel each added three goals as well. Zatelli added to the offense with six assists for a total of 10 points in the series. Connor Fredricks-Stebbins also would tally three assists. 

Cody Pachota and Nicholas Spognardi played in net over the weekend, tallying 30 and 32 assists, respectively.

UP NEXT

The Warriors will open up Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play with a home and home series against Indiana Tech. RCU will travel to IIT on Friday, before hosting Indiana Tech on Saturday with a 6:30 PM.