REACP

The DBU hockey team opened up their 2023-2024 regular season and conference play last weekend, hosting the Arkansas Razorbacks.  

 

On Friday, the Patriots and Razorbacks squared off in the first MACHA conference game. It was a very fast pace back and forth start to the game until 10 minutes in when Arkansas opened the scoring. The rest of the first period was taken over by the Razorbacks as they notched one more right before the end of the period.  At the start of the second period the Patriots came out fast and had a barrage of shots all answered by the Razorbacks goalie which led to Arkansas gaining momentum and coming back with their third goal of the game. Finally off a smooth pass by senior Buddy Barritt the Patriots got on the board with freshmen Brenden Crow getting his first goal as a Patriot.  For the rest of the second period, DBU maintained good pressure, eventually leading to Barritt scoring a goal of his own on the power play, closing the Razorback lead to one.  Opening up the third period, the Razorbacks were able to capitalize on a Patriots mistake, improving their lead to two, but this did not stop the DBU determination as they continued to fight.  Transfer Jaylen Mendez cut the lead to one off another Barritt assist as DBU fought to reclaim the momentum.  In the final minutes, the Patriots continued to throw everything at the Razorbacks but eventually came up short as Arkansas added one more in the final minute to seal the game 5-3. 

 

On Saturday, the Patriots looked to bounce back after losing game one, but went into the first intermission down by two.  The early minutes of the second period only saw the score margin increase, giving the Razorbacks a 4-0 lead.  After a timeout to regroup, DBU made an adjustment to solve the Arkansas scoring barrage by looking to freshmen goalkeeper Theo Neilson.  Neilson locked down the net, saving 25 of 27 shots to give momentum back to to DBU with multiple impressive stops.  DBU prevented the shutout halfway through the third period behind the stick of Everett Beavers, but the game was too far out of reach.  The final horn sounded with the score at 6-1 in favor of Arkansas, completing the sweep. 

 
UP NEXT
 

The Patriots are hitting the road for the first time this season, heading to Nebraska for a three-game weekend playing the University of Nebraska at Omaha on Thursday, October 5th, followed by a weekend series against University of Nebraska at Lincoln on October 6th and 7th.