Florida Atlantic’s ice hockey team celebrated its first win of the season on Saturday, Oct. 1 after trouncing the Florida Tech Panthers 14-3.

Away from their usual home at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs, FAU’s hockey team took to the ice at the Palm Beach IceWorks in West Palm Beach, which features an Olympic-size ice rink almost 15 percent larger than the rink at the IceDen.

The starting line-up consisted once more of goalie Austin Luboff, Josh Ramer and Austin Connors on defense, and forwards Adam Lieberman, Mark Panciera and Thomas Craig.

Club President Hunter Sheehan scored the first goal of the night and his first of the season 3:15 into the first period, quickly followed by a goal from Stephen Ziegler. Jon Fuhrman scored on FAU’s power play at 6:21 for a 3-0 lead.

FAU quickly extended its lead to 6-0, with a goal from Chris Brunson and successful shots from Ryan Deemer and Lieberman finding the back of the net. Florida Tech forward Devin Mize did his best to thwart the Owls, managing to put the Panthers on the scoreboard with just over four minutes remaining in the first period.

The Owls played an aggressive first period, peppering Florida Tech goalie Joey Robison with 17 shots on goal. Florida Tech responded with only seven attempts on goalie Austin Luboff.

FAU finished the first period leading the game 6-1.

The second period started with another goal each for Sheehan and Deemer. Danny Bowman got an opportunity to score at 8:38, bringing FAU’s overwhelming lead to 10-1.

Mize was the only player to score for Florida Tech, earning himself a hat trick over the course of the evening, but his efforts weren’t enough to sufficiently stand up to FAU.

The third period began with FAU leading 10-3. Florida Tech’s goalie appeared to be visibly shaken after being battered by shots from FAU, giving up goal after goal.

FAU continued to play a strong offensive game into the third period, with forward Deemer scoring a third goal for a hat trick that brought the score to 11-3. Brunson and Fuhrman both netted a second goal each in under a minute.

Upcoming games include back-to-back games against Florida State University on Nov. 18 and 19 at 8:30 p.m. at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs.

Hilary Webber is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @hilareel.