Game 1 (Friday, Jan. 14, 2021): FAU 15, Lynn 4

In their first game back after winter break, the FAU Hockey Club (12-3-1-0, 10-1-0-0 SECHC) came out swinging against Lynn University (3-7-0-0, 3-4-0-0 SECHC) for a huge victory at Palm Beach Skate Zone in Lake Worth on Friday night. 

The game was part of Lynn’s “Hockey for Hope” Weekend, which raised money for Place of Hope, an organization focused on providing programs and services to end the cycles of abuse, neglect, homelessness, and human trafficking. According to the Lynn Ice Hockey Club’s Twitter, the event managed to raise $1,100 and will go to a residential home for neglected children. 

The Owls took initiative at the start and never looked back. Junior forward Myles Davidson opened the scoring just over a minute into the first period, giving FAU a 1-0 lead. Senior defenseman Kyle Kaserman notched another goal for the Owls two minutes later. 

Junior forward Jake Friedman and senior centerman Nick Pica both scored with 13:31 and 12:08 remaining in the period respectively, pushing FAU’s lead to four. Freshman forward Michael Linhares followed them closely, as he scored his first goal of the season with 11:14 left in the period. It would also end up being the game-winning goal. 

Lynn got itself on the board 12 minutes into the period, making it 5-1. However, FAU’s momentum stood firm and junior forward Matias Weir scored on the power-play less than three minutes later. Freshman forward Nick Solarino found the back of the net at 4:35, which made it 7-1 in favor of the Owls by the end of the first period. 

The second period proved to be high-scoring like the first. Freshman defenseman Justin Machovina fired the puck into the net on the power play with twelve minutes remaining in the second. Machovina scored again just under three minutes later, making it 9-1 for the Owls. These were Machovina’s fourth and fifth goals of the season. 

Senior defenseman Jack Trathen scored with 6:24 left in the period to push FAU’s lead into double-digits. 

Lynn struck back while FAU was down a player on the penalty kill with four minutes left. They scored again three minutes later, making it 10-3. 

In the dying seconds of the second period, junior defenseman Nolan Cappello scored, having the score be 11-3 heading into the third. 

Weir scored his second of the night 30 seconds into the third period. Lynn found the back of FAU’s net for the final time that night less than a minute later while being short-handed. The score was 12-4 at that point. 

Sophomore forward Nick McInchak scored with seven minutes left in the period, but FAU wasn’t done for the night.

Weir scored his third of the night with less than a minute remaining in the game, earning a hat-trick of three goals. It was also his third hat-trick of the season. Shortly after, Pica finished off the rout by scoring his second of the night with 34 seconds left. They combined for five goals on the night.  

Game 2 (Saturday, Jan. 15, 2021): FAU 8, Miami 4

After a display of scoring-prowess the night before, FAU (13-3-1-0, 10-1-0-0 SECHC) faced off against the Miami Hurricanes (2-7-0-0 SCHC) and won its fourth straight game stretching back to last year. 

Unlike the night before, this matchup did not get off to a fast start. Over 13 minutes elapsed before sophomore forward Nick McInchak broke the deadlock and scored. Five minutes later, freshman forward Nick Solarino made it 2-0 for FAU before the end of the period. 

Miami fired back five minutes into the second period. There was a slim margin between these two teams for the first half of the game. However, the Owls maintained the upper hand in scoring. Senior centerman Nick Pica fired the puck past the goal line with 7:54 remaining in the second to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Owls. 

Miami scored again three minutes later, but junior forward Myles Davidson took one back on the power-play for FAU with two minutes left in the second period. This made it 4-2 before the intermission. 

Davidson scored his second of the night three minutes into the third period. Miami, however, was still in the game and responded with its own goal just over 10 minutes into the period. Half a minute later, Miami scored again while the Owls were short-handed on the penalty kill. This made it 5-4, but it would be the Hurricanes’ last goal of the night. 

With six minutes left in the period, Solarino scored again to put the Owls back up by two. Less than three minutes later, Davidson scored his third of the night on the power-play and joined Matias Weir from the night before in earning a hat-trick that weekend. 

Weir himself scored 24 seconds later, making it 8-4 by the end of the game. 

FAU’s next outing will be at home this weekend at the Panthers Ice Den. They will face the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights on Friday, Jan. 21 at 8:45 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 22 at 3 p.m. 

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