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Icecats open season with sweep

Joshua D. Trujillo Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior goaltender Mark Meister stops the puck during Friday night's 8-5 win over the Colorado Buffaloes in the Tucson Convention Center. The Icecats also beat the Buffaloes 7-2 Saturday, sweeping Colorado and opening their season 2-0-0.

The Tucson Convention Center was rocking as the Arizona Icecats kicked off the season this weekend with two victories over the Colorado Buffaloes.

Opening the season with 15 goals in two games, the Icecats picked up where they left off last season after finishing fifth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National tournament.

Friday's game, the opening night for both teams, turned out an 8-5 score in favor of the Icecats. In a game marked with sloppy and inconsistent defensive play by both sides, the physical tone of Colorado was outmatched by the quicker Icecats.

"They are always a tough physical team. I always enjoy playing against guys who will hit you back," junior center Marc Harris said.

The top line of Harris and juniors Paul Dorn and Mike Graves led the attack by combining for five goals and nine assists in the two games.

Friday night saw two big performances from sophomore center Andrew Edwards and senior center Hunter Cherenack.

"Edwards stepped up, Cherenack, stepped up, and we got a win out of it," Harris said.

Edwards finished the weekend with two goals and an assist, while Cherenack had a goal and an assist.

Worried about the sloppy defensive play that plagued the first game, the coaching staff changed all of the defensive pairings for Saturday night's game.

The UA coaches also pushed for the defenders to remain back to prevent the large number of odd man rushes the Icecats faced Friday night.

Two short-handed goals by the Buffaloes Friday evening only added to the problem.

"As inconsistent as our defense was Friday, they were consistent Saturday," Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski said.

With the dropping of the puck on Saturday, it was evident that the defensive problem of the previous evening had disappeared.

The Buffaloes were only able to get off three shots in the first period and struggled to find good shots while on the power play.

The end result was a 7-2 victory for the Icecats.

"Saturday's performance was much more along the lines of what we were looking for, as opposed to what we saw Friday night," Golembiewski said.

The Icecats defense also turned in a strong offensive performance, with Pavel Jandura leading all defenders with two goals and an assist. Kyle Neary also added in with a goal and two assists.

The victories did not come without problems, as first line winger Mike Graves injured his wrist after falling on it in the first period of Saturday night's contest.

"Mike fell on his wrist, we don't know how serious it is right now, we will know more about it later," Golembiewski said.

The Icecats will look to build on their 2-0-0 record this Friday and Saturday night as they play USC at the Tucson Convention Center.