A tough test lies ahead for the Kent State men’s hockey club Oct. 3 as they face-off against the Eastern Michigan Eagles for its season opening weekend.

“They’re gonna bring a real physical game this weekend,” said coach Jim Underwood. “They’ll try to slow the game down and it may get chippy at times. If we can keep our heads on straight and fight through the clutches, grabs, hooks, holds and hard, heavy hits then we’ll get our chances on the power play and hopefully walk out with a win.”

The team has a good feeling for knowing what to work on this week after winning three out of the four match against Eastern last year. Returning players know what the tempo of the game will be like and have a good idea of what to expect when coming up against an opponent like them.

“I’m expecting Eastern to come out hard,” said junior defenseman Alex Compean. “I know they dropped two games last weekend so they are definitely going to come and give us a run for our money.”

Nothing but practices have been an ongoing routine for the Flashes as it head into its first game.

The physical aspect brought by Eagles calls for a specific type of practice that Underwood and his players have been developing for weeks.  

“For the past three weeks, we’ve been really gearing up our power play and getting that in top shape,” Underwood said. “We feel that if we score at a 25 to 30 percent rate on our power play this weekend, it will give us a good chance to win both games.”

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