The FAU club hockey team has made some huge strides this season, which earned them the sixth seed in the American College Hockey Association Division 3 South Regional Tournament, but fell 5-4 in overtime to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).

Led by league MVP Jacob Friedman, who had 36 goals and 70 points in 24 games, and co-star Matias Weir, who added 34 goals and 72 points, the Owls were set to take on the seventh-seeded Ole Miss Rebels.

The Owls fell into a hole in the first period, as Ole Miss found the back of the net twice to take a 2-0 lead in the early going. The Rebels were controlling play in that opening frame, as they outshot the Owls 12-7. 

That would all change in the second period.

After a two-on-one opportunity was flubbed by the Owls, goaltender Zachary Mader made a tremendous save to keep the score at 2-0 and then seconds later, it paid off as Noah Kirk found the back of the net to make it a one-score game with 14:44 to go in the first period.

After some more big saves by Mader, Matias Weir was able to find the back of the net with just under eight minutes to go in the second frame. However, Ole Miss was able to strike again to make it a 3-2 game to close the second frame.

The Owls started the third off on a hot start, controlling the offensive zone and having many scoring chances, and it paid off when Myles Davidson was able to fire one home following a solid chance from Weir to make it 3-3.

Ole Miss was able to retake the lead following the Owls’ sixth failed powerplay opportunity, but Jacob Friedman was able to tie the game back up at four with a laser from the point on the Owls seventh power play opportunity.

The game would go to overtime, but Anthony Pellegrino was able to slide the puck past Mader just over a minute in to end the Owls’ season on a sour note.

“We played the game we wanted to play for the first 61 minutes,” captain Clay Cleveland said. “We had one bad minute and that’s all it took.”

Zachary Mader ended the game with 29 saves on 34 shots, making a few huge saves that kept the Owls in the game.

The Owls went 1/7 on the power play against Mississippi. This game looked like it was truly the start of a rivalry. Owl fans can rejoice, as their rivals were sent home by the South Carolina Gamecocks the next day.

 The Owls went 17-6-1 in the regular season, which had placed them as the sixth-ranked team in the ACHA South Region.

Following the tournament, defenseman David Israel was named to the All-South Region first team while forward Jacob Friedman was named to the All-South Region second team. Israel finished the season with 14 goals and 46 points.

FAU club hockey will be back in action next September.

Colby Guy is a staff writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @thatguycolbs