Game 1 (Friday, Nov. 12, 2021) | FAU 3, University of South Carolina 2

The Owls (7-2-1-0, 6-1-0-0 SECHC) beat the University of South Carolina Gamecocks (8-2-1-0, 4-2-1-0 SECHC) at the Panthers Ice Den on Friday night. 

Friday’s game was Military Appreciation Night for the team and they had a ceremonial puck drop from a graduate student who served in the armed forces. Sophomore goaltender Sean Williams III also had the American flag on his leg pads.

Just over four minutes into the game junior defenseman David Israel scored and was assisted by freshman forward Quin Menosky.

A few minutes later at 7:20, junior forward Jake Friedman took a roughing penalty, putting the Owls on the penalty kill. 

The Gamecocks took a couple of shots on the power play, but it was negated with 11 seconds left when the Owls were awarded a power play. The two teams played four-on-four hockey for 11 seconds before the power play began. 

With about five minutes left in the period, South Carolina started to gain momentum, and later had a breakaway with a minute left, but Williams III made the stop. The Gamecocks then tied the game at one with 46.2 seconds left in the period. 

Their momentum carried over to the second period, as the first opportunity came about three and a half minutes in when a shot hit the post. 

Junior forward Myles Davidson went top-shelf on the glove side unassisted with 10:27 left in the second to give the Owls a 2-1 lead. This built momentum for the team.

“[The goal] was great, it got us going,” Davidson said. “We kind of slowed down a little bit and we picked it back up and finished it off nicely.” 

With 9:43 left in the second period, Williams III made a diving glove save to keep FAU ahead. 

Friedman took another penalty with 38.7 seconds left in the second, this time in the offensive zone. The Gamecocks also took a penalty, making it 4-on-4. 

South Carolina put the puck in the back of the net with 3.2 seconds left in the period, but the referees did not call it a goal, as junior defenseman Christian Nichols pushed it out. Junior forward Matias Weir was charged with a 10-minute game misconduct after he argued with the referees after the play, as he thought they called a good goal.

“It was awful because he is a first-line guy, you can put your second-line guy out there, but [Weir] would have been huge,” Davidson said. “We would have put that game away early.” 

The Gamecocks tied it quickly in the third period, with a goal at 1:09. 

The Owls had an opportunity at 2:31 into the period, as they went on a power play as a player was tripped. 

Friedman took yet another penalty at 5:52, putting the Owls on a penalty kill. Later in the period, sophomore forward Griffen Bono was also charged with a minor penalty at 10:55.

With 4:47 left in the game, the Owls earned a power play. 

“I was thinking we have to put one in here, or else it’s going to be a tough [overtime],” Davidson said. “We don’t want to go to [overtime], we want to put these guys away in regulation time.”

Davidson scored the game-winner on that power play assisted by Weir and Israel.  

Bryce Totz is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @brycetotz. 

Game 2 (Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021) | FAU 7, University of South Carolina 3

The Owls (8-2-1-0, 7-1-0-0 SECHC) repeated their success from Friday night and completed a sweep of the Gamecocks (8-3-1-0, 4-2-1-0 SECHC) on Saturday.

FAU got off to a fast start with freshman forward Nick Solarino scoring over two minutes in to put his team up by one.

The Gamecocks answered back three minutes later when they fired one into the back of FAU’s net.

FAU eventually found itself on the penalty kill halfway through the first period when junior forward Jake Friedman scored a short-handed goal to put the Owls back on top at 7:56. It was his third short-handed goal of the season. Freshman defenseman Justin Machovina assisted Friedman on the play.

The second period was entirely one-sided as the Owls scored twice on the Gamecocks.

Senior defenseman Kyle Kaserman held his arms high in celebration after sending the puck through the goalie’s legs to make the score 3-1 more than three minutes in. It was his second goal of the season.

Junior forward Myles Davidson’s hot streak continued from the previous night when he scored on the power play with 5:27 left to make it 4-1 before the end of the period.

The Gamecocks committed a roughing penalty that gave FAU another man advantage five minutes into the third period. Davidson scored on the power play once again with 14:25 left, giving him a total of four goals in both games against South Carolina.

South Carolina got on the scoresheet again at 12:28 when FAU was down two players on the penalty kill. Junior defenseman David Israel and sophomore forward Tyler Stowe both took tripping penalties 14 seconds apart to give the Gamecocks the advantage.

Two minutes later, Israel broke through the Gamecocks’ defense and sent the puck over the goalie’s shoulder to make it 6-2 in favor of the Owls.

South Carolina netted another goal with 6:53 to go, but the momentum was overwhelmingly against them so late in the third period.

Junior forward Matias Weir wrapped up the game with one last goal for FAU with over five minutes remaining, which made the final score 7-3. Davidson assisted him, putting a bow on a stellar performance over the weekend.

FAU plays again this weekend against the University of South Florida at the Panthers Ice Den on Friday, Nov. 19 at 8:45 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 20 at 3:00 p.m. 

Nicholas Montante is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @nickmontante1.