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Ann Arbor, Michigan- The Eastern Michigan Eagles Hockey Team amidst a week of controversy and questions fought through all of the chaos and all of the question marks to complete a sweep against a much outclassed opponent in Syracuse University. The Eagles won game #1 on Friday Night by the score of 5-1, and won this afternoon 12-3 at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

Eastern Michigan came out flying in the first period and began by scoring the first goal a mere 2 minutes into the game on a wicked redirection play. The goal scored by Freshman Dan Olgren, assisted by Kelly Koester and Brad Latarte only began the scoring onslaught for the Eagles. However, before this onslaught came, Syracuse fought back scoring at the 4:59 mark on a goal by Jason McLean. The Eagles took advantage at the 9:58 mark of the period of a power play given to them by Syracuse, by scoring a nice goal from Kelly Koester with assists from Nate Putek and Dan Olgren. The rest of the period was uneventful in the realms of any scoring. However, at this stage of the game both teams were really flying around the ice with the period ending with the score being at 2-1.

The second period as was the case the night before was the Eagles period with EIGHT goals being scored to blow the game completely wide open and showing an immense difference in talent and skill on the ice. The goals occurred in rapid succession, but began at the 1:27 mark on a goal by Charlie Jones with an assist from Ryan Thompson to make the score 3-1. This was followed up by two goals 3 minutes later by Josh Barron(Opyd, Warren) and David Aliff.(Jones) At this stage of the game with the score 5-1, the Syracuse starting goaltender Sean Conaway almost seemed in a daze as the sixth goal was a rather strange one. As Conaway went back to play the puck behind the net, he was unable to really keep his eyes off of the puck thus allowing EMU to shoot an open net to make the score 6-1. Eastern then added a power play goal from Chris Gutenschawager(Putek), another goal by Charlie Jones(Opyd, Gutenschwager) which thus made the score 8-1. (Tired yet?) Syracuse did score their second goal of the game at the 14:02 mark of the second period on a power play goal from Scott Wood that was just perfectly shot. The Eagles finally added the 9th and 10th goals of the game with goals from Ryan Thompson(Opyd) and Josh Barron(Gutenschwager, Thompson.) to thus end the period with the Eagles flying high at a score of 10-2. The Eagles took complete control of the game with some pretty nifty offensive play and a large number of Syracuse miscues handling the puck and not defending their net well at all.

The third period was real lackluster as EMU came out and looked to hold their lead as the first 8 minutes of the period went by with nothing happening. The Eagles however did score 2 more goals on the night, and the first was a goal from Senior Defenseman Ryan Gauthier(Wilson, Aliff) on a beautiful slap shot that no one was able to stop or defend against. Syracuse did add their final goal of the game a few minutes later by Peter Bollman to reduce the deficit to 8 goals again on a play that Syracuse did not give up on. The Syracuse players shot on the net and then crashed the net and were able to poke the puck past goalie Jake Pruss. Thankfully for Syracuse and thankful for my score sheet the Eagles ended the scoring at the 17:16 mark on a Power Play Goal from Chris Gutenschwager. The Eagles then were able to skate off the rest of the time and take home a well deserved win over a clearly weaker squad in Syracuse.

The Syracuse Orangemen had a long trip to come to Ann Arbor, Michigan and managed to score four goals on the weekend and really were outclassed in talent, speed and play on the ice. Even though the shot totals only added up to Eastern Michigan leading 45-31 the game felt more like EMU was just taking advantage of any and every Syracuse mistake that they would make. Eastern would be allowed to set up plays pretty much at will, wouldn't have to worry about too many diving bodies trying to stop passes, etc. Syracuse's goaltender had a rough night as he didn't receive a ton of help from his team but also didn't really seem to be in the game at times as Eastern was able to just throw the puck on net and it would go in practically at will especially during the second period. In the game of hockey, if you are not concentrating at 100% you will get caught and be penalized for it. Eastern took advantage of many incidents in which Syracuse just didn't look to be on the top of their game. I do wish the Orangemen good luck on the rest of the season and suggest that they fix these mental lapses that I saw. There is some talent and some speed on this team and if used adequately they might be a decent team.

Eastern Michigan looked very impressive today. In a lot of ways that probably is a bit deceiving considering they weren't exactly facing a Penn State caliber team out on the ice. However, offensively I was very impressed with how Eastern Michigan was able to cycle the puck in the corners and actually set up plays on offensive that were truly team oriented. You'll notice that out of the 12 goals EMU scored, only one of them was unassisted. This is a very good sign. Defensively Syracuse put together some very good rushes and breakaways which is how they managed to score their goals. The only thing that disturbed me a bit was the third period in which EMU came out and looked like they were out on a free skate enjoying themselves. I completely understand that when you are ahead by as large of a margin that they were that they would be doing this, but going out on the ice and putting minimal effort in the period doesn't seem acceptable. It is important to note that the Eagles only outscored Syracuse 2-1 in the first and third period.

However, when the score is 12-3 I am forced to really dig into the well to try to find something to criticize about the Eagles this afternoon. I was impressed with the fire they showed for the first two periods and the impressive hockey that was played from a team that had distractions on all sides coming at them. However, the Eagles were able to play through these distractions and were able to win two hockey games in rather impressive fashion. Congratulations to the Eastern Hockey Club for showing the resolve necessary to deal with these hard times in the manner in which they have!


Looking Ahead:

Depending on the circumstances with the appeal process which I assume can take months to go through, the games should occur as scheduled. However, for any home games for the EMU Eagles we'll have to wait until JANUARY. The Eagles this next week travel down to Kent State for two games against the Golden Flashes, a really viable opportunity for the Eagles to earn some much needed points in the CSCHL Standings. The next best chance to see your EMU Eagles is at the East/West Classic at Michigan-Dearborn from Nov. 28th-30th. The most intriguing game of the three is the one against the highly ranked and highly acclaimed(by the hockey101 forums) Rhode Island University Rams! The week after comes the meetings with the vaunted #1 Penn State Icers out at the PSU Ice Pavilion. The next home game is not until January 9th when the Eagles take on Mercyhurst.

Last Comments:
I would also just like to take this moment to tell the Eastern Michigan Hockey Fans that during these challenging times to stick together and work together to help out the team in any manners possible. Here is hoping that the appeals process goes as smoothly as it should, and here is hoping that you and I will all have the pleasure of watching the EMU Hockey program for the rest of this year, and for many more years in the future. Unlike the thoughts of one individual poster at hockey101.com, We are truly not selfish, in actuality we are the epitome of what true fans should be towards their team.

With the Football team beating Ball State 38-14 and the Eastern Michigan Basketball team beating the GT Express and now the Eastern Hockey Team sweeping Syracuse, it truly is a great time to be an Eastern Michigan fan! Go Eagles and until next time,

GO GREEN!

-Kevin  

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I'm starting to see some real creativity from the Eagles. The cycling in the attacking zone and the team oriented attack seemed to work pretty well. The offense also took advantage of every mistake SU made in the second period. Again, we need to continue to play team oriented and I think this team will be fine.

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Only a couple of lapses; but allowing 31 shots to a team we were dominating seems a bit high.

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3 PPG goals; allowed 1 goal Shorthanded; definitely not a bad night for the Eagles.

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Solid effort from Pruss tonight.

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Considering everything this hockey club has gone through and considering the circumstances of everything happening around the club it is amazing that the Eagles were able to come out and put together a complete effort as they did tonight. It really is a tribute to the quality of players and coaches that the EMU Hockey Team has.

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