By Lili Watford
On September 15, both teams traveled to Cumming, Georgia to compete in one of the most intense rivalry games in the conference.
The Ice Dawgs added another win onto their record, beating South Carolina 3-2.
In the first period, the Ice Dawgs were down 0-1.
“[We] wanted to get pucks in deep and get to work,” said senior and assistant captain Josh Mesaros. “The first period wasn’t our strongest, so we talked about what we needed to change to come out with a win.”
While the first period was somewhat slow for the Ice Dawgs, they came barreling out on the ice to start the second period, scoring a goal within the first minute of the period.
To tie the game up for Georgia was freshman forward James Hedquist with an assist from sophomore forward Evan Parente. The young freshman is already making quite the name for himself amongst the team’s top scorers with goals in both games this season.
Hedquist said that it was thrilling to tie the game up, but he thought that the overall game showed that “we have a bright future ahead of us this year.”
With under 5 minutes left in the second period, the team rallied together to score the go-ahead goal making the game 2-1. Sophomore forward Declan Conway, scored the second goal for the Ice Dawgs, putting them in the lead going into the third.
Captain Robby Witwer said that going into the locker room in between periods, he knew he didn’t have to say anything and that team fighting back like they did in the second period showed “great resiliency.”
The atmosphere on the bench from the end of period one to the end of period two was like night and day.
“After the second and going into the third, we had a 2-1 lead and we knew we had to play smart and stick to the game plan that we had,” Mesaros said. “The vibes (in the locker room) were positive, but we knew we still had to play a strong last 20 minutes. South Carolina is a good, fast team and they were not going to make it easy on us.”
With only one period left separating Georgia from winning their second consecutive game of the season, emotions ran high.
To extend the lead for the Ice Dawgs, sophomore forward Will Donato scored his first goal as an Ice Dawg with an assist from sophomore forward Dylan Punzenberger.
South Carolina tried to close the gap in the third period.
They were able to sneak in one more goal with roughly nine minutes left in the period, making the score 3-2.
As the final buzzer sounded, Georgia added another win onto their record leaving the final score of the game being 3-2.
“This win is a big one for our group,” Witwer said. “The South Carolina game is always one that you have circled on the calendar. We will enjoy it for a couple of days, and then get back to work.”
The Ice Dawgs will be back on the road Friday, September 22, as they travel to the Atlanta IceForum to play in another rivalry game against Georgia Tech at 9 p.m.
“I’m excited to experience that rivalry for the first time,” Hedquist said.
The matchup between Georgia and Georgia Tech will be both teams’ third game of the season. The Ice Dawgs go into this game with a record of 2-0, whereas the Yellow Jackets have a record of 1-1.
