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UA sends Delaware home empty handed

With one flick of his wrist, junior Kyle McNeilance made all the pain and frustration go away.

By being in the right place with only 1:01 left in the game, the McNeilance of the No. 6 Arizona Icecats happened across a bouncing puck in front of the net and sent it to the back of the cage, tying the No. 5 Delaware Blue Hens 4-4 at the Tucson Convention Center on Saturday night.

The game would finish tied, allowing the Icecats to escape the weekend series with a win and a tie, bringing their record to 9-1-1, while Delaware fell to 8-5-1.

"In this case, we will take the sister-kisser," Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski said.

Saturday night's tie was the result of stepped-up physical play by the Blue Hens, who were looking to avenge the 6-1 Icecats victory on Friday night.

Friday's game was pure dominance from a defensive-minded Icecats squad, who concentrated on shutting out the powerful attack of Delaware. The offense for UA came in spurts, with McNeilance netting two goals, and junior Marc Harris scoring a goal and dishing out two assists.

Sophomore goaltender Jason Morgan had a solid performance in Friday's contest, stopping 29 of 30 shots,

The Icecats limped into Saturday night's game, looking to take what they could get with a squad missing vital players.

Sophomore Pavel Jandura, the Icecats top scoring defenseman, was out with an injured knee. Sophomore Kyle Neary, who would have replaced the injured Mike Graves on the top line, was also out with an ailing wrist and ankle.

The Icecats also had a few playing while fighting the injury bug. Despite his pulled groin, junior right wing Paul Dorn played all weekend in visible pain, but scored a goal and two assists.

But the physical play Saturday night was the story.

With the game tied at 3-3 with five minutes remaining on the clock, the referees called a controversial penalty on Harris, allowing the Blue Hens to go on the power play. Delaware senior center Bret Huston capitalized on the power play, wristing a rebound past Morgan to put Delaware up 4-3.

"You have a situation where the game is tied, five minutes are left, and the refs call a penalty," Golembiewski said. "You never call a penalty in that situation. You don't call it on Delaware, and you don't call it on us."

Huston led Delaware by scoring two goals Saturday night and netting the Blue Hens' only goal on Friday night.

Other controversy in the game had Golembiewski replacing senior Mark Meister in goal with Morgan after a laser shot from the blue line by Huston cut the lead to one.

"There is no excuse for a goal from that distance," Golembiewski said. "I felt it was the best move for our team at that particular time. Morgan came in and played solid."

The Icecats now take some time off to heal before taking on rival Arizona State in a weekend matchup December 3-4 at the Tucson Convention Center.