Brad Bowes- UCO Hockey
October 8, 2023- Maryville Ice Center
#6 UCO Hockey shuts the door on #9 Maryville in both games this weekend. On
Friday night the Broncho’s handled the first night of the road trip by way of a 2-0 shutout. Then
Saturday night accomplished the feat once again toppling Maryville by a score of 4-0. UCO had
perfect goaltending on the weekend, Both Artem Lantukh and Doug Wakelyn were able to stop
26 and 27 shots respectively -en route to their wonderful weekends, helping bring UCO to a
record of 6-0.
This weekend the UCO vs. Maryville matchup was listed as a “Game to Watch” by the Hockey
House. It featured two top 10 teams doing battle in the early parts of the season. Maryville is a
big team that plays a style of hockey similar to what the Bronchos employ. They like the
overload the ice and take time and space away from their opponent. Trapping the puck as often
as possible.
In Friday’s up and down matchup, much of the game resembled a style of hockey that fans and
coaches might have a tough time watching, but nevertheless there were great opportunities and
high-level plays being made by both teams, and then it was followed up with long portions of
game time where the puck was glued to the wall, and nothing was being executed by either team.
Artem Lantukh was still tested this game with plenty of grade A scoring chances, but he was able
to fend off every chance that Maryville had. The Broncho’s were able to find two goals of their
own to secure the win, one even strength goal in the early going of the game from Sebastian
Doucet, and then the final goal of the game being a powerplay marker for Ondrej Blaha.
Saturday’s game brought with it more energy from the Broncho’s side, as well as more great
goaltending. The game was more put together with better execution from both teams. It was a
fast-paced game, however, when matching gameplans collide, it can really stymie much of the
offence and cater to more improved defense. This weekend both teams just looked like they had
the other team’s playbook out and were putting in the effort to get them off their strategy. It was
UCO who did the better job of this as the scoreboard was in favor of the Broncho’s for the entire
weekend.
These two out of conference teams have faced off for the past 3 seasons and share a relatively
similar hockey culture, so there weren’t really any surprises from this weekend. Junior forward
Carter Eha made his return from an ACL injury that he sustained at the end of last season. He
was the first to silence Maryville on Saturday scoring his first goal of the season. Doucet had
goals in both games this weekend as well, going from a captain at Davenport University to more
of a mystery depth chart spot at UCO, Doucet has carved out a nice role for himself and is
forcing coach Rivera to call his number with impactful play on both offence and defense.
Maryville now becomes the highest ranked team that UCO has faced to this point in the season,
and UCO was able to win both games without causing any panic. This is a bright sign for the
Bronchos moving forward, however, they will face bigger challenges as the year progresses.
They will have to beat Maryville two more times when the Saints visit Arctic Edge Arena for the
first weekend in November. For now, the Bronchos will enjoy a weekend off before heading back
to Boulder, Colorado for a matchup against the Buffalos on October 20 & 21.
Scoring Recap (Friday)
1 – 0 (Doucet. Regan, Mikhailov) End of Period 1
2 – 0 (Ondrej. Simpson, Sykes) End of Period 2
End of Game.
Scoring Recap (Saturday)
End of Period 1
1 – 0 (Eha. Rabroker, Stalzer)
2 – 0 (Doucet. Burton, Regan)
3 – 0 (Mikhailov. Hogan, Doucet) End of Period 2
4 – 0 (Sykes. Simpson) End of Game.