UCO Hockey- Brad Bowes
#3 UCO Hockey finishes the season strong with two convincing wins against in-
state rival and #25 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Broncho’s graduating seniors were bid
farewell on Saturday night to the roar of an electric home atmosphere and a trophy presentation,
as well as one proposal in books for UCO senior star Vitali Mikhailov who went home with his
future still shining bright ahead of him. Vitali showed some extra motivation this weekend as he
capped his final regular season with 4 goals and 1 assist in the 2 games.
The Bronchos got to play both home and away games this weekend at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena,
commonly known for being UCO’s home rink. Although Friday night’s game technically
belonged to the Sooner, UCO did well to make it as much of a home atmosphere as possible.
UCO responded to a lackluster 3 game losing streak last weekend with two strong performances
to right the ship before the national tournament approaches. On Friday night the Bronchos were
able to take the home ice advantage from the sooners and cruise to a 4 – 0 lead by the third
period and ended up splitting goals in the third to win by a score of 5 – 1.
On the weekend UCO carried a very balanced offensive attack with 14 different players making
their way on the scoresheet. UCO also scored 2+ goals in 5 of the 6 periods.
Saturday night brought more scoring and more great goaltending for the Bronchos, as they were
presented the Western Collegiate Hockey League championship trophy for the 3 rd year running.
UCO tallied 7 goals in their game on Saturday with only 1 goal allowed for the sooners.
On the weekend the Bronchos outshot OU 77 – 47, with the shot discrepancy taking place
entirely on Saturday. OU was able to stay equal with UCO in Friday’s contest both achieving 29
shots on goal. While on Saturday, the Bronchos outshot the Sooners by 30 shots.
Next up for the Bronchos will be a quick 3-week preparation period before heading to St. Louis
on March 7th for the ACHA National Tournament. UCO will most likely enter the tournament
with the 3 seed locked in. Which means that they will get a bye on the first day of the tournament
while the bottom 16 teams do battle. UCO will need to win 4 straight games in order to take
home the Championship trophy. All the tournament games will be streamed by FloHockey.
Scoring Recap (Friday)
1 – 0 (Mikhailov. Taylor, Stalzer)
2 – 0 (Mikhailov. Eha) End of Period 1
3 – 0 (Stalzer. Mikhailov)
4 – 0 (Sykes. Ondrej, Guerra) End of Period 2
4 – 1 (Sinclair. Glass, Bassett)
5 – 1 (Ondrej. Sykes, Guerra) End of Game.
Scoring Recap (Saturday)
1 – 0 (Mikhailov. Stalzer, Krauss)
2 – 0 (Eha. Burton, Regan) End of Period 1
3 – 0 (Ondrej. Sykes)
4 – 0 (Mikhailov. Eha, Stalzer)
4 – 1 (Best. Mondou) End of Period 2
5 – 1 (Burton. Hogan, Williams)
6 – 1 (Guerra. Sykes)
7 – 1 (St. Clair. McDonald, Hogan) End of Game.