By: Mark Jagord —
The Erie Community College hockey team completed play for the 2016 calendar year with three wins in three consecutive days this past weekend.
The National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association’s top-ranked team had to work for its 3-0 weekend – with two of its three wins coming after trailing, but rallying with impressive resolve.
At the Rochester Institute of Technology, Dec. 9, the Kats trailed twice. After falling behind 2-0 and tying the game, Erie was still down by a pair at the first intermission. Not only did the Kats shut the door on the Tigers the rest of the way, but in the process registered 74 shots for the game and six unanswered goals to win 8-4.
The next night at the University of Rochester was even more challenging. Not only did the Kats trail after the first intermission at 1-0, but they also trailed after 40 minutes, 3-2. Another Erie rally would tie the game and send it to overtime. With the game undecided after the extra session, the Kats relied on their skilled forwards to earn the win in a shootout, 4-3.
Erie finally returned home after a pair of games on the road to HarborCenter to face the University at Buffalo, Dec. 11. Unlike the previous two contests, this time the Kats wouldn’t need a rally against the Bulls after scoring all of the game’s goals in an 8-0 win.
With the trio of wins over the past weekend, it left the team with a perfect 5-0 record for December as the team heads for the semester break.
Overall, the Kats are at 13-2-1 for the season and undefeated in region play at 5-0-1. Erie will return to game action in a little over a moth with three region home contests. The Kats will first face Hudson Valley, Jan. 15 and 16, and then SUNY Broome, Jan. 21.
Wins in those three games has the potential for the Kats to clinch another region title Jan. 25, depending upon the outcome of a game between valleys (Hudson Valley vs. Mohawk Valley) that day.
