TAMPA, Florida. - The Tampa Spartans Men’s Hockey Team scored 10 goals in their Gasparilla themed win against 11th ranked Florida to take the first game of the series

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: Florida 2, Tampa 10

Records: Tampa (20-1-1), Florida (7-6-1)

Location: Clearwater Ice Arena | Clearwater, FL

HOW IT HAPPENED GAME 1:

1st Period

●      -After about half a period of hard-fought hockey, Tampa’s Tyler Kelly scored the opening goal giving the Spartans the lead.

●      -Spartans Junior Matthew Needleman scored another goal with assists from Michael Pettijohn and Angelo Picariello, which made    the score 2-0

●      -Another Tampa goal came from Senior Ryan Murray to increase their lead to 3

●      -UT finished off the period with another goal from Sophomore Jake Karant for his 10th of the year.

2nd Period

• -On one of their first powerplay opportunities for the Spartans, Alternate Captain Stephen Buck capitalized to make the score 5-0.

• -Back to even strength Tampa scored another a minute later by Senior Gus Aldridge

• -The Gators scored very shortly after on a powerplay to get their first points of the game

• -Later in the period, the Spartans put another one in the net to give them a 6-goal lead with the shot coming off the stick of Sophomore Jack Manware.

• -Florida quickly answered with another powerplay goal to make the game 7-2 at the end of the period.

3rd Period

• -This period started off the same as the other two with a Tampa goal from Senior Evan Hoffberg.

• -Tyler Kelly of the Spartans scored his second of the night 3 minutes later giving them a 7-goal lead.

• -Tampa Junior Frank Catalina finished off the scoring for the game with assists from Tyler Kelly and Ryan Murray to end the game with a score of 10-2.

GAME 2: UT vs. FLORIDA

TAMPA, Florida. – The University of Tampa’s Men’s Hockey Team scored 9 goals in their Sunday win against the Gators to take both of the games in the series.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: Florida 3, Tampa 9

Records: Tampa (21-1-1), Florida (7-7-1)

Location: Clearwater Ice Arena | Clearwater, FL

HOW IT HAPPENED:

1st Period

●      -Unlike last game, the Gators started off the scoring to take their first lead of the weekend.

●      -Tampa fired back 2 minutes later with a goal from Frank Catalina giving him 14 goals on the year and tying the game

●      -The Spartans kept the scoring going with a goal from Ryan Andrews which made the score 2-1 UT.

●      -UT did not stop there as they added another goal to their lead from Evan Hoffberg and assists from Stephen Buck and Grant Parrish to end the period at 3-1

2nd Period

• -Evan Hoffberg scored again giving him his second of the night and the Spartans a 3-goal lead.

• -Tampa sophomore Connor Berry continued to pour on goals as he scored his first of the night with assists coming from Ryan Andrews and Nico Evangelous.

• -Connor Berry got a breakaway and scored on a nice move for his second goal of the night to end the period with a score of 6-1.

3rd Period

●      -With another goal to start off the period had three separate Spartans with a multi-goal night as Frank Catalina buried one on a powerplay goal

●      -The Gators started to claw their way back with a shorthand goal making the score 7-2

●      -Connor Berry got his third of the night to get his first career hat trick to give the Spartans an even bigger lead.

●      -Florida answered back as they popped another in the final 4 minutes of the game.

●      -To end all the scoring Stephen Buck got one for Tampa making the final score 9-3.

UP NEXT:

●      -The Spartans take on UCF in Orlando on Friday and in Tampa for Senior Night on Saturday

●      -The Spartans will be providing Fan Busses from their campus to the game on Saturday

●      -Stay tuned for postseason updates and information about the 2021-2022 season.

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