UGA rebounded from an opening-game loss Friday night at the 27th annual Savannah Hockey Classic with an 8–1 win over Florida State on Saturday at Enmarket Arena, near downtown Savannah.
For the first time in its long history, the Savannah Hockey Classic featured six instead of four Southeastern collegiate programs competing at the home of the professional East Coast Leagues’ Savannah Ghost Pirates.
The Ice Dawgs opened their weekend by visiting patients Friday afternoon at Dwaine and Cynthia Willet Children’s Hospital of Savannah. That night, however, they suffered a 6-3 loss to South Carolina.
The Gamecocks played well and controlled the pace of Friday night’s game; plus, goaltender Tyler Temoyan turned away 36 of 39 shots the Ice Dawgs threw at him.
“Coming off a strong weekend in Nashville, I thought we’d have an upper hand,” UGA head coach John Camp said later. “But South Carolina’s a good team. They just outworked us.”
Georgia set the tone early Saturday, though. Although Florida State made the first three shots on net for the period, that was all they managed as the Ice Dawgs responded with 17 consecutive attempts and held a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes with goals from Spencer Watson, Charlie Kerrigan, and Dawgs’ captain Evan Parente.
Georgia’s Jordan Sirota extended the lead to 4-0 early in the second period despite playing shorthanded. Watson and Kerrigan each added another goal later in the middle stanza, while Florida State was again limited to just another three shots in the period.
With a solid 6-0 lead entering the third, UGA continued to apply pressure until defenseman Dylan Punzenberger scored. Not long after, Parente also got his second goal of the game to give Georgia an 8-0 advantage.
The only black mark on the game for Georgia came with just 1:03 left to play when Florida State’s James McGovern beat Goldstein in close to avoid a shutout for the ‘Noles.
Unfortunately, Saturday’s game was a consolation match for both the Ice Dawgs and the Seminoles, relegating them to spectator status as Tennessee beat Georgia Tech 7-1, then lost 4-1 to South Carolina in the final game of the tournament.
Regardless, Camp said he was pleased to see Saturday’s game serve as a reset for his team after Friday’s loss.
“Today the mission was to get back on track,” he said. “You want to stay disciplined and build off it.”
He also acknowledged his team was missing several veteran players, allowing others to step up and into the lineup.
“It allowed us to see other guys,” Camp said. “I think a couple of guys probably stole some jobs.”
The Ice Dawgs return to action at 4 p.m. Friday at Akins Ford Arena in Athens for the first of a three-game stand against northern powerhouse Niagara University. The two teams then play again at 9 p.m. at The Ice in Cumming on Saturday before returning to Akins for a 1 p.m. finale on Sunday.