Most teams have their biggest games at the end of the season, but for the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Eagles, the biggest game of the season came on Sunday evening. The team responsible for giving the Eagles it’s biggest test of the season would be the University of Tampa Spartans. Why was it the biggest game of the season for the Eagles? Well, the University of Tampa is known as THE elite team in the south division of the ACHA, rivaling only Florida Gulf Coast University. This brings with it huge ACHA national rankings implications. If the Eagles win, they can get their name out there, a close loss is even a good thing, as the committee will recognize that the Eagles are for real by holding their own with a quality team. The Eagles have never beaten the University of Tampa, and have continuously looked to keep pace with them as a marker to see how the team is growing.

A tale of the tape similar to that of Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed. The Eagles and Spartans have squared off twice since last season. The first came last season, as the Spartans bested the Eagles in Daytona 11-1. The second matchup came in Tampa Bay as the Spartans again came out on top 7-1. A trend, if we were to make one, is the games are getting closer as the Eagles play the Spartans. Of course, only two games have been played, giving a small sample size to make such a claim, but if the two games were an indicator, one could say the Eagles are on the right path. We’ll start with the one we are pulling for, our Rocky, the Eagles. The Eagles come into Sunday’s contest with a record of 7-4. The Eagles score, on average, 6 goals a game, and allow 3 goals a game. As for the Spartans, Apollo Creed, they come into their game against Embry-Riddle with a record of 7-6. They score, on average, 4 goals per game, and allow 4 goals a game. This makes sense as their record is close to .500, meaning they are a very even team. You might say to yourself, “Nick. If they are an even team by numbers, then they aren’t really that good, right?” Well, we have to go back to context for the answer. It should be noted, University of Tampa plays many quality opponents in, and outside, of their conference. Some of these teams include Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Michigan, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida. All of these teams are national contenders year in and year out. Secondly, on the national contender topic, the University of Tampa finished their season last year in Columbus, Ohio for the ACHA National Tournament. They beat the number one seed in the tournament, Iowa State, and finished with an overall national ranking of 9th. This makes them, the best team the Eagles will play all season.

The first period was a stalemate. University of Tampa was stunned by an Eagles squad that seemed to come out of nowhere and play on their level. Much like our hero Rocky, who knocked down Apollo Creed in the first round, the Eagles proved to everyone they were for real. Led by the return of captain Alex Leithiser, and center Kevin Merle, the Eagles attacked the Spartans, but the Spartans’ goalie held strong. Matt Sillcocks had a shooting gallery with three shots to himself. Nicolas Prulhiere was in net for the Eagles, and he put on a show for the Embry-Riddle faithful. Prulhiere stopped all 9 of the Spartans shots, with 7 of those coming in grade A scoring areas. The Eagles had 6 shots in the first period, with 2 of those shots coming in grade A scoring areas. A period that had back and forth chances for both teams, ended 0-0.

The second period was much like the middle rounds between Rocky and Apollo Creed, in that Creed won the middle rounds. The Spartans showed why they were the favorites and put up 3 goals to take a 3-0 lead. An easily fixable problem for the Eagles, as all three goals came from the slot directly in front of the goal. With a bombardment in front of the net, and an unlucky bounce, eventually something would give. Prulhiere held strong stopping the rest of the shots he faced after that. The Eagles kept pace with the Spartans on the shot count, as both teams shot 8 times in the second period, with each team having 5 shots in grade A scoring areas. Three shots came from Spencer Kuhlman, who shot from the same spot he scored from on Friday night.

The third period brought with it drama. Just as Rocky stuck with Apollo Creed and shocked the crowd, soon the Eagles would do just that. Tampa would score one more time, pushing their lead to 4, but after that the Eagles struck. On a 4 on 3 situation, and with eleven minutes to play, Brendan Barger circled the puck behind his own net. He carried it out from behind, and found Kevin Merle in the neutral zone. Merle looked across back to, a still skating, Barger who collected the pass and brought it into the Spartans’ zone. With the defense giving him space he wound up a slapshot, and put it right past the goalie’s right side blocker. 4-1 Spartans. A few minutes later, Kevin Merle covered for a pinching Mike Pandolfo. Merle poke checked the puck away from an attacking Spartan, and passed it up to Pandolfo. Pandolfo made a defender miss, and carried it into the attacking zone. With the help of Merle, the pair got the puck deep into the University of Tampa zone, and found Ryan Marks. Marks shot into the Spartans goaltender, to be denied. He got his own rebound and followed up with another shot. The goalie stopped it again, and allowed a rebound to sit in front of the Spartans’ net. A streaking Pandolfo followed through on a quick shot on the loose puck, to no avail. Pandolfo then collected his own rebound finally bouncing the puck past the goaltender for a hard fought goal. The goal was a team affair, cutting the lead to two. After the Spartans’ goalie standing on his head to keep the Eagles from scoring another goal, the Eagles found an opening. The Eagles pulled their goalie, Ryan Marks forechecked hard. He caused a Spartan defender to misplay the puck. Alex Leithiser got possession, and tried to wraparound the net, and shot a backhander into the goalie’s pads. The puck bounced free though, and Marks collected it and shot a wrist shot over a splitting goaltender’s glove. The shot was perfect, and sometimes perfection is needed against a tough opponent. He placed it high, as the goalie’s momentum was taking him low. The goal made the score 4-3, Spartans, with one minute to play. The Eagles would still have their goalie pulled to try to get one more to send the game into overtime, but the Spartans added an empty-netter, and won 5-3. The Eagles won the period by score and shots though, shooting 16 times, with 6 coming in grade A scoring areas, compared to the Spartans shooting 8 times, with 4 coming in grade A scoring areas. Nicolas Prulhiere would end the game stopping 20 of 24 shots. He allowed 4 goals to be scored, limiting the University of Tampa to their average goals scored per game.

So, much like in Rocky vs Apollo Creed when Apollo Creed was victorious, the University of Tampa was victorious Sunday night, but much like Creed in that fight, they were on their heels in the latter part of the game. The Eagles proved, like Rocky, they can go the distance with the best team in the south, and fought the entire time. I apologize if any reader dislikes or has not seen Rocky (if you have not seen it I highly recommend it) but the game lended itself to the comparison as the Eagles showed heart and grit against a team that was favored heavily to blow out the Eagles, as they did in the previous two meetings.

A trend I mentioned earlier is that the games between these two teams keep getting closer every time they play. I said it was hard to say if it was a true trend due to sample size, but the Eagles proved that the trend may be for real. The way the trend looks, and the Eagles played, the next matchup could show the Eagles getting their first win against the Spartans. It’s a good sign if they are Rocky in our scenario too, because he beat Apollo Creed in his rematch with him after going the distance.

-Nick Conrad