By Craig Degel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona Icecat coach Leo Golembiewski said he figured his team only played 47 out of 60 minutes against Colorado State on Saturday, but it was still enough for a 9-4 victory at the Tucson Convention Center.
"We played about 17 minutes in the first period," Golembiewski said. "In the second period we decided we would come out and play 10 minutes."
The Icecats (7-1) got off to a fast start in front of 6,278 fans at TCC, scoring four unanswered goals before the Rams finally got on the board in the final moments of the first period.
Brian Consolino tallied the first goal at 7:50 in the first after Sam Battaglia's shot rebounded out to his waiting stick. One minute later, Mark Thawley scored a power play goal from the top of the left circle off a Consolino-Kevin Oztekin assist combination.
At 11:33, Consolino returned the favor to Battaglia on the power play to make the score 3-0. Freshman Brian Meehan then scored at 14:37 off a pass from freshman Jim Christoferson.
Colorado State finally scored with 66 seconds left in the period when Jon Staley beat freshman goalie Kevin Keady, who was making his first start since his 3-2 loss to Colorado on Nov. 3.
"Keady rose to the occasion," Golembiewski said. "We gave him the start to show we had confidence in him."
Joel Hilshey was in goal Friday night when the Icecats defeated the Rams 3-1.
The scoreboard remained unchanged until 8:59 in the second when Jon Mullet found an opening off a pass from Marc Fletemeyer.
The Icecats saw their three-goal, first-intermission lead dwindle to one goal by the second period when Colorado State's Marc Amundson scored at 15:31 with help from Dan Christie and Adam Visocky.
"I basically said, 'You guys figure it out,' and then I left the room," Golembiewski said of his intermission talk.
However uninspiring it may have been, the Icecats responded with a fury, scoring five unanswered goals.
Freshman Bob Maijka scored at 1:27 off an assist from Peter Scott.
"You've got to pleased with Maijka," Golembiewski said.
At 4:12, Andy Knick stole a pass in his own zone and dished it to a breaking Ben Rustin, who skated the rest of the way and beat CSU goalie Jackson Adams low for the score. Peter Scott was credited with his second assist of the night.
Six minutes later, Scott found the back of the net off an assist from Knick.
Christoferson scored his first goal as an Icecat at 13:11 on a power play. Thawley and Joel Nussbaum were credited with the assists.
Golembiewski said Christoferson won the starting center position from Ryan Rockabrand, who did not play Saturday night.
With just under a minute to play, Meehan tallied his second goal of the night with an assist from Thawley and Joe Joyce.
The game appeared over until Mark Hanson caught Keady napping with five seconds left in the game for the final score.