Marquette club hockey’s quick start to the season came to an abrupt end during its road trip to Missouri State and Arkansas. Following a series sweep at Northwestern the weekend prior, the Golden Eagles were swept in three road games, getting outscored 17-6 and playing overall unimpressive hockey. Putting it lightly, coach Will Jurgensen said he was extremely disappointed by the performances.
“I am pretty upset with the results of the weekend,” Jurgensen said. “We played some very good teams, but I thought we could have squeezed a couple victories out of the weekend.”
Friday night, the Golden Eagles (9-5-1) began their road trip with a game against Missouri State. Sophomore Will Podewils scored two goals and sophomore Colin Telmanik added a third goal late in the game. But despite keeping the contest close throughout, the Golden Eagles eventually lost 4-3, allowing the winning goal in the final minute of the game.
After losing their first game, the Golden Eagles continued their road-trip in Fayetteville to battle Arkansas. The first game was a nightmare against the difficult Razorback team, getting shutout 7-0.
Marquette capped the road trip with a rare Sunday matchup and a 7-3 defeat. The few bright spots were goals from sophomores John Stillman and Corey Quinn, and Podewils, who finished with three goals during the weekend.
“I’d say Will Podewils certainly stood out for me this weekend,” Jurgensen said. “He had three goals on the weekend and really played solid in all three games. He was certainly a guy I could count on to go hard even when the game wasn’t going our way.”
Even with the great performance, the overall failure was echoed by the team, including assistant captain David Fabris.
“We really hoped to have a statement weekend with the first ranking coming out in a week or two but the opposite happened,” Fabris said. “Losing a tough game Thursday took a little wind out from under us, especially because we gave up the game-deciding goal with just 30 seconds left. Sometimes, things just don’t bounce your way and these little bounces can cost you, especially when you play national contenders like we did this weekend.”
Jurgensen hoped the performances were simply a blip during the positive start to the season and that this week’s practices will fix the team’s technical problems.
“The best thing about moving forward is certainly our long home stand,” Jurgensen said. “We are going to continue to improve as a unit and really spend a lot of time on those areas of the game we have struggled the most. The nice thing is that we have a lot of hockey yet to play, and a lot of great opportunities to prove that we can be a great team.”
Marquette now begins its longest homestand of the season, starting with this weekend’s series versus Northern Illinois. The Golden Eagles will play eight consecutive home games during the home stand, which concludes against No. 15 Lewis University.
