Temple defeated the State University of New York at Cortland, 4-1, on Friday in Northeast Philadelphia to start its season with a 2-0 record.
The Owls won the special teams battle, which helped them earn the win.
The Owls’ penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2 on Friday thanks in part to sophomore goaltender Ben Auerbach. He stopped 30 of 31 shots and made a lot of key saves off the rush when Temple had turnovers or bad passes, especially during the first period when the Red Dragons outshot Temple 16-9.
Auerbach said the team had extra practice time, which helped its defense. He said he knew he needed to step up and not get rattled early in the game.
Temple forced Auerbach to play with a one-man disadvantage early when sophomore forward Charles Ghiazza took an interference penalty two minutes into the game. Temple took another first-period penalty at the seven-minute, 32-second mark, but it escaped without conceding a goal.
Unlike Cortland, Temple took advantage with the man-advantage. The Owls converted 1-of-4 power-play opportunities, scoring in the first period to tie the game at one.
Temple outshot the Red Dragons 43-31 in the contest.
First-year coach Mark Spease said his goal is to get 40 shots per game. He feels the more the Owls shoot and play in the offensive zone, the more they’ll be able to tire out their opponent.
Temple has outshot both of its opponents so far and will look to continue this trend on Saturday against Robert Morris University.
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