Written by: Mickey Gonzalez

Welcome back UCF! Your Knights started off the 2019-2020 season trading wins in a home-and-home series against the Embry-Riddle Eagles.

On Friday, players stepped onto college game ice for the first time in months—for some, the first time ever—determined to start the season off right. Embry-Riddle, it seems, did the same. A rough game led to the Eagles leading with a score of 5-0 in the third period. But UCF wouldn’t go down without a fight. Matthew Angiella, Rodney LaLonde, and Gonzalo Ruiz all scored. It lessened the gap, but wasn’t quite enough to pull ahead. The Eagles put one more in the net before the buzzer, resulting in a final score of 6-3, Embry-Riddle.

Back on home ice, UCF approached Saturday’s game with an even stronger will to win. In the first period, with one Knight in the box, Richie McGuigan, assisted by Donovan McClellan, captured a short-handed goal for UCF. Jake Toale followed it up with a power play goal in the second period, with an assist from Ruiz. No effort from the Eagles was enough to catch up, not even withdrawing their goalie. The game ended with a UCF win: 2-0.

This weekend signified UCF’s shift back into the strength they demonstrated last season, with some good effort from the new guys too. The Knights can use this energy well going forward in the season.

Come support your UCF Knights as they play another home-and-home series against Embry-Riddle. The UCF home game is on Saturday, September 28 at 4:00pm in the RDV Ice Den. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. Students get FREE ADMISSION with a UCF ID!