By KYNDALL WINDHAM · The Skatin’ Rebels completed the series sweep against the Arizona Wildcats with a 5-2 win at Tuscan Arena tonight. The victory extended UNLV’s winnin…
The Skatin’ Rebels completed the series sweep against the Arizona Wildcats with a 5-2 win at Tuscan Arena tonight. The victory extended UNLV’s winning streak to 14 games, keeping the Rebels undefeated.
Both teams kept the same goalies in tonight, with the Rebels starting Liam Choquette and the Wildcats starting Hadyn Gould. Between both games, Choquette allowed six goals on the 52 shots on net from the Wildcats.
Oliver Band got the first goal of the night for the Rebels at 7:55 in the first period.
The Wildcats would respond about six minutes later with Logan Hughes finding the back of the net. The teams would end the first period with a tied score of 1-1.
The second period scoring would start early on with Band getting his second goal of the night.
The Wildcats would not end up getting any pucks to the back of the net this period, leaving the Rebels with a 2-1 lead going into the third period.
Last night, both teams took multiple penalties throughout the game. The Rebels had 11, and the Wildcats had eight. While this did allow multiple goals for the Rebels, it also allowed the Wildcats to score as well.
Looking at tonight's game, the Rebels managed to keep their penalties to a minimum, taking only one by the end of tonight's game.
“Much better game discipline-wise, you know, they had a penalty, we had a penalty, we killed that penalty off and scored on the power play,” Head coach Anthony Vigniere-Greener said. “That’s huge for our special teams.”
Five minutes into the third period, Deven Nagra would score for the Rebels with an assist from Michael Coleman. This would take the Rebels up to a two-goal lead, making the Wildcats work to get back in the game.
With a little encouragement from the home crowd, Arizona found the back of the net again in an attempt for a comeback start.
Wyatt Stefan got it behind Choquette off of an Arizona faceoff win, keeping the game at just a one-goal lead.
The comeback chances quickly started to vanish as the Wildcats headed to the penalty box shortly after scoring, giving the Rebels a needed opportunity to capitalize on the power play.
With just three seconds remaining on the power play, Hayden Seigel would score with assists from Dylan Gordon and Dylan Jensen, bringing the Rebels to a 4-2 lead.
Rounding out the end of the third, scoring his first goal as a Rebel was Coleman. After getting the puck from Charles Masek and Ryder McIntosh, Coleman skated through neutral ice, taking it to the Wildcats' zone.
With two defenders on him, Coleman passed the puck between his legs, getting the puck in front of him and giving him a slight breakaway and a chance to shoot right behind Gould and into the Wildcats' net for a beautiful goal.
“It feels great to get the first one under my belt,” Coleman said. “I mean, just a good game by the boys overall, and it was nice to come away with the win.”
The Wildcats consistently put pressure on the Rebels this game.
By the end of the game, Arizona had recorded 29 shots on goal to the Rebels’ 32. Both teams came out with pace and physicality, but UNLV found ways to come out on top in both games of the series.
After a tightly contested first game, the Rebels responded with a stronger performance Saturday, showing improved discipline and capitalizing on their opportunities to secure the sweep.
Three Stars
Oliver Band - 2G
Michael Coleman - 1G 1A
Hayden Siegel - 1G
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Photo by Hailey Turenne (@tallahasseephotography922)