Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan

Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan

Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan

UWO hockey wins one, losses one against Waldorf University

No. 20 Matt Edwards controls the puck during a home game. Edwards has a total of three assists so far this season.
[/media-credit] No. 20 Matt Edwards controls the puck during a home game. Edwards has a total of three assists so far this season.
The Titans celebrate a goal at home. They have a total 28 goals in eight games this season.
[/media-credit] The Titans celebrate a goal at home. They have a total 28 goals in eight games this season.

The UW Oshkosh men’s hockey team split the weekend series with Waldorf University on Friday and Saturday, improving their record to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in conference.
Junior forward Jason Johnson said his team is improving after starting the season off slow.
“Some focal points in practice have been to practice as hard as we play so we are ready to go for the games and to just take the season one week at a time,” Johnson said.
Game one, played on Friday, was won by Waldorf 6-2.
The Titans gave up just one goal in the first period and went into the locker room tied at one apiece.
Oshkosh then surrendered four goals in a row, putting themselves into a 5-1 hole.
Oshkosh was only able to muster 23 shots against the defense of Waldorf.
However, Tony Francois saw 51 shots and managed to stop 45 of them, bringing his save percentage to .881 percent this season.
On Saturday in game two, the Titans gave up only one goal in the first, but were unable to find the net themselves and went into the break trailing 1-0.
The teams each scored a goal in the second, putting the score at 2-1 in favor of Waldorf.
The Titans pulled their goalie late in the game to bring out an extra attacker late in the third. Andrew Schulenburg put one away with just five seconds remaining in the game to even the score at two and push the game to overtime.
Schulenburg said he credits his teammates for the goal late in the game which was assisted by Brandon Beier and JT Smithback.
“We managed to get a goal that late because we kept grinding and our defense did a great job keeping the puck in the zone,” Schulenburg said. “They kept firing shots and the puck somehow ended up on my stick.”
Tanner Good of the Titans then scored off an assist from Matt Edwards with just 58 seconds into overtime and the Titans walked out of the arena with a 3-2 victory.
Even though the Titans were outshot 47-38, senior goalie Eric Vella managed to stop 45 of the 47 shots he faced, with 20 of them coming in the 3rd period and overtime, improving his save percentage to .894 this season.
Johnson scored a goal in each of the two games this weekend, bringing his season total to nine points.
Anthony Grebe added a goal on Friday, to bring his point total on the year to nine as well.
The split this weekend keeps the Titans in second place in the conference, just one point behind the first place Waldorf.
The Titans continued to improve their penalty kill, allowing just one goal in seven attempts for Waldorf and they have allowed a goal just 20 percent of the time when they have been short handed this year.
Senior Owen Ahlstrom said he knows a come-from-behind, gritty win like that can change the entire course of the season.
“The fact that we never gave up and won means that our hard work is paying off and we look to keep things rolling,” Ahlstrom said.

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