Team Maroon scored twice in the closing minutes of the Texas A&M ice hockey season opener to win the scrimmage 10-8 on Aug. 30 at Spirit Ice Arena. 

The team finished last season 12-17 and will open regular season play against Oklahoma State University on Sept. 13-14 at Spirit Ice Arena. A&M competes in Division II American Collegiate Hockey Association West and the Southern Collegiate Ice Hockey Association, last winning the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference Championship in 2020 and 2022.

Junior forward Nico Leone, who was the high scorer for Maroon with six goals, expressed his excitement for the upcoming season after the scrimmage.

“[Maroon] started down 4-1,” Leone said. “We honestly felt like we were playing good. We just let a couple of loose ones through, but we just rallied. They fed me some good passes, and we scored a bunch of goals. We look like a really good team so far.”

Before the puck dropped, the team honored NHL Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed along with his brother by a car they were cycling. 

Sophomore forward Cade Willis kicked off scrimmage action in the first of three 20-minute periods with a goal for White in the third minute of play after both teams had exchanged shots. Team captain and senior forward Marshall Rushing extended White’s lead in the eighth minute of play, and junior forward Leone responded with Maroon’s first goal. 

Senior forward Matthew Perri scored for White off a deflection from junior forward Mason Burdett. Freshman forward Ethan Ratliff scored from the left circle after an assist from Rushing for the final goal, ending the period 4-1 White.

Both teams opened the second period with five minutes of strong defense. After a brief stoppage, Maroon junior forward Colson Zak began a rally by netting the opening goal in the sixth minute. Junior defenseman Evan McCuaig quickly notched the fifth White goal to reassert a three-goal lead, the largest of the night. McCuaig, a Canada native, is in his third season playing for the Aggies. 

Leone took control through the second period, scoring three goals to tie it up 5-5. With 3:45 left on the clock, Ratliff netted his second goal to end the period with White up 6-5.

Maroon opened the final period, tying the game back up after sophomore forward Lucas Lisciandro scored in the fourth minute. Two minutes later, Perri scored for White, but Leone took command once again, scoring his fifth goal of the night in the seventh minute for a 7-7 tie. Zak answered back to give Maroon its first lead of the match. 

The back and forth down the ice continued, with Rushing collecting his second goal of the match in the 12th minute, tying the game once again. Both teams traded shots with Leone completing his second hat trick of the night after the referee changed a call to count his final goal. In the final minutes, White pulled freshman goalie Thomas Andreef Jr. to make a final extra-man attack, but senior forward Ethan Chen nailed the empty netter to seal the 10-8 victory for Maroon.

Rushing said the close score made for tense action with players fired up. 

“We just tried to keep it at bay, find the opportunities we could,” Rushing said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t, but it got really fun there. And that’s what we like to see looking forward into the season now that both sides really wanted to come out with the win and work their butts out for it.”

Wyatt Watson is an agricultural systems management junior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.