The Kent State Ice Hockey Club battled through penalty troubles to gain the sweep and their eighth win of the season over University of Pittsburgh.  

“Our guys overcame a little adversity in the game today,” coach Jim Underwood said. “It was a big team win and even though our penalty kill wasn’t what it normally is, they killed penalties when they needed to and we were able to come out with a win.”

After an uneventful first period, sophomore forward Mike Sullivan scored on the power play in the second period. Sophomore forwards Jake Hainline and Jon Buttitta recording the assists.  

The Pittsburgh Panthers responded with a power play goal of their own with 14:13 remaining in the second period. Sophomore forward Kyle Schaefer scored the Flashes’ second goal with the assist going to senior defenseman Andrew Radosevic.  

After receiving two penalties one after another, the Panthers scored another power play goal with just under seven minutes left in the period to make it 2-2. The second period ended with the score tied at two.  

Junior forward TJ West scored the third goal for the Flashes with 8:40 left in the third period with the assist going to Schaefer.  Once again, the Panthers took advantage of another power play and tied to game for the third time with 6:16 remaining in the third period.  

Buttitta scored the game-winning goal for the Flashes with minutes remaining in the game to gain their eighth win of the season.  The assists on the game-winner went to Hainline and sophomore defenseman Caleb Gannelli.  

The Flashes will take on Indiana Institute of Technology next weekend at the Kent State University Ice Arena.

“We need to get to work right away this week, with one of the focuses being our penalty kill,” Underwood said. “It needs to be a blue collar work kind of week as we get ready for two important league games next weekend.”

Chris Yamnitsky is a sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].