The University of Georgia Hockey team traveled to Savannah, Georgia, last weekend to compete in the 20thAnnual Savannah Hockey Classic. The Ice Dawgs went 1-1 on the weekend with a win over the University of Florida, and a loss coming to Georgia Tech.
The No. 4 ranked Ice Dawgs came out strong on Friday night with Austin Krusko scoring back-to-back goals in the first to put Georgia up 2-0 at the end of the period.
Christopher Santa Maria scored his first goal of the night just 22 seconds in to the second period, extending the Ice Dawgs lead. The Gators answered with two goals in a row before Carter Penzien scored with 2:35 remaining in the period. The Gators scored their third goal of the night, and the period, just 24 seconds later.
The Ice Dawgs got hot during the third period, scoring every time the Gators tried to close the gap. Jay Stephens scored less than a minute into the third period getting the scoring started for Georgia. Florida’s Player of the Match, Daniel Kang scored his second goal of the night next before Georgia’s Christopher Santa Maria earned his second goal of the night. Florida scored one last goal before the Ice Dawgs finished the game with two more goals. David Spielberger found the net with 9:13 remaining in the game, then Christopher Santa Maria earned a hat trick with an empty net goal to end the game, and earn Player of the Match honors for the Ice Dawgs.
Saturday night’s much anticipated game against in-state rival Georgia Tech lived up to the hype with over 5,000 fans in attendance. There was no shortage of defense as the Ice Dawgs were held to their lowest scoring game of the year.
Georgia Tech put up the first points of the night just 2:25 into the game. The lead did not last long as Carter Penzien answered with a goal to end the first period at a 1-1 tie.
The Ice Dawgs struggled to get anything going offensively in the second period as they failed to score. Georgia Tech scored the only goal of the period with 6:33 remaining in the second.
Georgia Tech scored another goal with 11:22 left in the game to extend their lead to 3-1 in the third period. Christopher Santa Maria scored his fourth goal of the weekend with 5:37 remaining in the game, but the Ice Dawgs could not find the net again after his goal.
The Ice Dawgs will hit the road this week with games on Friday and Saturday night against the University of South Carolina and Clemson University, respectively.
