Springfield, Mo. – The Maryville Saints hockey team opened its inaugural season against Missouri State, the 17th ranked team in the ACHA Division I, this past Friday and Saturday night in Springfield, Mo.
Friday night marked the first game in program history and only the seventh time the Maryville hockey team has skated together as a team. The Saints and Bears were scoreless until Missouri State got on the board. The Bears took advantage of some bounces and added four more tallies before the end of the first period. Missouri State tallied two more goals in the second frame, and three more in the third. Freshman
Matt Simoncelli scored the first goal in program history when he converted for the Saints on a pass from
Damian Caringi. The Saints were unable to add to their goal total in the 10-1 Missouri State victory.
Maryville opened the scoring Saturday night when Toronto, Ontario, native
Solan Shifara, earned his first collegiate goal by blasting a shot from the slot while the Saints had the man advantage. The score would remain 1-0 until the Bears ripped a shot past screened Maryville goaltender
Arren Romeril. The Bears power-play goal came with just 45 seconds left in the first period and the frame would end in a 1-1 tie. The Bears added five goals in the second and one more in the third to earn a 7-1 victory over the Saints.
"The scores of this weekend's games do not accurately tell the story of our team," Hogan said. "We are a significantly better team than we were just 24 hours ago just by going through this battle and learning from it. We will continue to work on our systems and grow as a team. It was great to put our 18 true freshmen into this environment against a Missouri State team whom I believe is a top 12 ACHA Division I squad this year. This was an unbelievable learning experience for our guys and will help tremendously moving forward."
The Saints will host Indiana University Friday, Sept. 14, and Saturday, Sept. 15, for the home opener at Affton Ice Rink. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m. Friday and at 5:45 pm Saturday.
