The UNC Bears men’s hockey team took to the ice for two back-to-back games on Friday September 15 and Saturday September 16 to finish up their preseason.
In their first game against the Cheyenne Stampede in Wyoming, the Bears dominated with a 6-1 win.
Before sophomore forward Liam McKee scored the first goal with 3:56 left for the Bears, the Stampede had a goal waived off as one of multiple called penalties.
About halfway through the second period, the Stampede made a change of goalies, and UNC followed did the same shortly after. The Bears changed goalies from freshman Ashton Opperman to freshman Quinton Reynolds. Opperman faced and stopped all 20 shots during his time in the net.
After the teams switched out the goalies, the Bears kept up the pressure. McKee’s scored second goal of the evening with 9:16 left in the second.
With the Stampede starting to fall behind, they managed to find the back of the net and move the score to 2-1 as 4:39 remained in the second.
From there, UNC added four more goals to their lead and held the Stampede scoreless. the game finished at 6-1.
On Saturday, UNC faced the Superior RoughRiders. The Bears aimed for a second win of the weekend to end their preseason strong.
And that’s just what they did. The Bears netted a total of seven goals and ended their last preseason game at 7-3.
The Bear’s first of seven goals for the evening began with a goal in the first period by junior forward Brad Pershing. Pershing added a second goal just three minutes after the first goal, with 13:08 left in the first.
The RoughRiders answered back with two goals of their own to tie the game shortly at 2-2.
The RoughRiders came out strong in the second period by taking their first lead of the game at 3-2, with 15:49 remaining in the second.
The Bears came out for the third, trailing the RoughRiders 3-2, but sophomore forward Garret Wood quickly netted a goal within the first four and tied the game at 3-3.
As the game got more physical, UNC thrived. They tacked on four more goals to win in an unexpected blowout of 7-3.
The Bears take the ice against the Metro Roadrunners at 8:15 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Greeley Ice Haus.
