By Taylor Nigrelli
Assistant Sports Editor
The hockey team (5-6) takes to the ice tonight at 7 p.m., as they host first-place Buffalo (16-2). The Bulls beat the Bonnies in the team’s first matchup this year, 9-1. Despite the nature of the loss, junior Captain Mike Iulianello believes there were positives taken away from the first game.
“We played them close in the first half of the game,” Iulianello said. “We took away penalties and the game got away from us, but we were right there for the first half.”
Freshman Mike Griffin said the Bonnies can compete if they stay disciplined.
“We can skate with them five on five,” Griffin said. “We can’t take too many penalties and we have to play hard and remember it’s our last game of the semester.”
Iulianello believes UB’s early-season success may cause their team to overlook the Bonnies.
“They’re going to come into the game thinking it’s an easy win,” Iulianello said. “Hopefully, in the first period, we can jump on the opportunity to surprise them and put some pressure on them.”
Tonight’s contest is the last on-ice-action the Bonnies see until after winter break. Since the team can’t practice over break, Iulianello believes in encouraging the younger players to stay active at home.
“My best advice for them is to stay on the ice,” Iulianello said. “You have to stay in shape. Not just cardio because once you get back on the ice, skating is going to be totally different. You don’t want to get rusty.”
The Brown and White’s last on-ice-action came last weekend against RIT when they fell to the Tigers 5-3 after building a 3-1 lead in the third period. Griffin and Iulianello put the Bonnies on the board in the first period. Iulianello said he was expecting the Bonnies to have an even larger lead after the first period.
“We really just wanted to start quick, get a couple chances and get up on them a couple goals,” Iulianello said. “That didn’t really happen. We had five power plays and we only scored one of them.”
The Bonnies led RIT 3-1 with 13 minutes left in the third period. The Tigers then scored four goals before the end of the game, sending the Bonnies to their sixth loss. Griffin believes the Bonnies got too comfortable after taking the lead.
“Our mentality was good in the first period, but we took our foot off the gas,” Griffin said. “We let them right back into it in the third (period).”
Iulianello said the Bonnies had trouble responding to RIT’s effort in the third period.
“We let up a little bit in the third period and that let them right back into the game,” Iulianello said. “They put a couple good goals in and we looked startled. They just wanted it more at the end of the game; they outplayed us and outhustled us.”
After the loss to RIT, Iulianello believes it’s important for the team to focus on the upcoming games. He cited last season, when the Bonnies recovered from a sub-.500 first semester, making the playoffs.
“You have to turn the page after a game like that,” Iulianello said. “We just have to work hard every shift and every game.”
