It was all about goals this weekend for the ice hockey club as the Owls won two games last weekend at Rider on Friday and verses Monmouth on Saturday, outscoring their opponents 19 to 5.
Temple started the weekend off Friday night, when junior forward Nick McMahon netted a goal off a pass from junior forward Sean Nealis, late in the first period. Going into the third, the game was tied before the Owls took over, scoring five goals in the last period to walk away with a 7-2 win.
Scoring for the Owls were senior forward Jim McKenzie, Nealis, senior forward Taylor Lockhart, junior forward Chris Brennan, junior forward Chris Johnson, and senior forward George Rutter.
Temple carried the momentum into Saturday night’s game. With about 13 minutes left in the first, McMahon got an unassisted goal, which started a string of goals that lead the Owls to a 12-3 win against the Hawks.
“We knew what we were up against,” coach Jerry Roberts said. “We knew what they were going to bring, and it would have been easy to just expect a win to be given to us, but we still went out and felt like we had to work for it, and put together 60 minutes of effort.”
At the start of the second Temple was up 2-0 when the flood gates opened and the Owls scored eight goals. Johnson was a standout with a total of four goals, all in the second, and an assist, which came off a goal from Lockhart in the first.
“Some games you just have to go out and go hard, making sure you always take it to the net,” Johnson said.
“It’s nice to see when your most talented players are actually starting to produce. In order to win games, your best players, need to be your best players,” Roberts said about Johnson.
Assistant captain Lockhart also had a quality game, tallying four points with three goals and an assist.
“This weekend, the intensity was there and the biggest thing is we were having fun,” Lockhart said. “We are working as a team and when you’re having fun, it translates to wins.”
Adding to the score board for the Owls were Brennan, Nealis, and McKenzie, who also had four assists.
“We played great tonight,” Johnson added. “Everyone was out there giving it their all.”
The Owls now have a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday and will be back to the ice on Dec. 2 in the MACHA Showcase in Warwick, Pa.
“We are making hits at it,” Roberts said. “To keep this up, we have to make sure we are not satisfied.”
“While we have a three-game win streak, there is still a lot of road to travel and we are still a long way from where we really need to be if we want to make another run for Nationals,” Roberts added.
Samantha Grinnan can be reached at samantha.grinnan@temple.edu.
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