'I am excited for this team': CMU Division III hockey sweeps Adrian College
Sliding across the zone, Central Michigan Division III club hockey senior forward Andrew Porzondek broke up a Bulldogs' pass and the puck found the stick of sophomore forward Conner Morgan.
“That’s what we need out of him (Andrew Porzondek) every game,” said head coach Tyler Cataline. “The guys feed off of that. Even if he’s not scoring two to three goals a game at least he is doing other things to help our team win. Blocking shots, making diving plays, and getting assists. That is the type of player we need especially with Issac Gibbs out.”
As one Adrian defender struggled to get back, freshman forward Andrew Sziraki skated into the zone to create a two-on-one. Faking out the defender, Morgan passed the puck to Sziraki, who the fifth and final goal of the game for the Chippewas and his third goal of the game, completing the hat trick.
“He (Andrew) has been on a tear since being moved back up to forward," Cataline said. "I mean he's scored in the last four of our games. We have a very young team this year and seeing our freshmen in Sam Camara, Andrew Sziraki, Conner Morgan, and I can keep going, get points is great, and seeing (Andrew) Sziraki get a hattrick the guys were excited for him and so was I.”
The Chippewas came out with the 5-3 win over Adrian and move to 9-5-1 on the season.
“I am excited for the team, and it is good,” Cataline said. “It is always good to have a winning weekend. We need those two wins if we want to be in the hunt for Nationals. It gives us confidence going forward and going into Grand Valley, so it’s a big thing.”
Despite shutting out Adrian on Friday, Elijah Jones sat out today’s game as senior goaltender Loren Jones occupied the net. Jones moves to 8-4-1 on the season.
“Loren played great,” Cataline said. “He made some big saves. He had a few breakaways come on him and came up big. A few of those goals were absolute missiles on him, but he came up big for us.”
Skating into the zone Porzondek passed the puck to senior defenseman Austin Ritter as an Adrian defender swatted at his skates. Settling the puck on his stick, Ritter skated forward and fired a shot that found the top left corner of the net, putting the Chippewas up 1-0.
Just under one minute later, freshman defenseman Sam Camara fired a shot on the net. After bouncing off the pad of Adrian’s net minder Luc Miclos, Ben Hyrciuk found the puck on his stick and put CMU ahead 2-0.
In the second period, Sziraki scored two back-to-back goals to extend the Chippewas lead to 4-0.
Unphased by CMU’s back-to-back goals, senior forward Ryan Pinho got the Bulldogs on the board just one minute later. Adrian scored two goals in 20 seconds making it a 4-3 game, however, the Chippewas secured the win.
CMU returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 10 against Grand Valley. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
“The guys will take the rest of the week off,” Cataline said. “I want them to enjoy this little break. We’ve played so much hockey lately so it’s time to get a little break to spend time with family and friends. We’ll come back next week to practice Monday and Tuesday have a little bit of fun for that week and then come back the next week and get right back into the swing of things to have four good practices before Grand Valley.”
