Hockey deals with injuries, loses weekend games

Matthew Brown

Kent State hockey team seniors Zachary Zwierecki (far left), Mitch Pozwick, Jake Herrberg, Charlie Gortz and Zachary Barnes pose for a picture during the senior night event before the home game against West Virginia University begins on Jan. 28, 2023.

Heidi Marshall, Reporter
January 29, 2023

After winning against West Virginia earlier this season, Kent State’s hockey team came up short in the second matchup, losing 3-1.

“We are missing quite a few of our guys right now,”  Nowak said, “A lot of those guys were probably in the lineup at WVU. They weren’t in the lineup tonight. So skills wise having those guys who can all go was a big difference.”

Defenseman Zack Henry won’t be back anytime soon due to a wrist injury. Defenseman Donovan Palmer will be out for a couple more weeks. Forward Charlie Gortz’s status is up in the air. Gortz might be getting surgery.

Kent State fell to 9-12 on the year after back-to-back losses over the weekend.

Kent State hockey team member Joey Gallo pushes in towards the net as West Virginia University plays close in during the home game on Jan. 28th, 2023. (Matthew Brown)

Forward Kris Cecere scored for WVU and took the lead early in the first period with 16:00 minutes remaining.

In the first period, the Flashes were in the defensive zone most of the time. Both teams together recorded 34 shots and 44 hits in the first period.

West Virginia scored again off a goal from forward Tyler Howcroft in the beginning of the second period making it 2-0.

Forward Nick Krestan scored at the beginning of the third period for KSU to make it 2-1 with 16:44 remaining. Krestan was assisted by forward Mitch Gillespie.

Forward Camille Marcoux scored for West Virginia with 12:02 remaining in the third period to extend the lead to 3-1.

A part of the KSU game plan was to have a lot of stoppages, due to the team playing the night before and having tired bodies.

“We wanted to have a lot of whistles,” Nowak said, “We knew we were kind of gassed and we didn’t have the jump. We couldn’t play this back and forth running game.”

On Friday KSU faced Indian University of Pennsylvania. IUP took the lead in the first period 1-0. KSU did not give IUP many chances. The Flashes could not manage to score and lost 1-0.

Kent State hockey team member Mitch Gillespie skids into a turn as the puck changes hands during the home game against West Virginia University on Jan. 28th, 2023. (Matthew Brown)

The extreme physicality of the game resulted in 12 penalties.

“WVU likes to play physically. They work hard and grind you down,”  Nowak said. “They are really tough to play against.”

Gillespie led KSU with 5 shots on goal.

Forward Tommy Kilway, forward Zachary Zwierecki, and forward Jake Friedman all had 4 shots on goal.

Goalie Nick Beck made 40 saves on the night. KSU pulled home the goalie three minutes left in the third period giving the Flashes an extra player to try and capitalize on a goal.

The Flashes will take on Cleary on Friday 8 p.m. at Cleary Ice Den.

Heidi Marshall is a reporter. Contact her at h[email protected].