A&M men’s hockey battles SMU on the ice

The Aggies and Mustangs split a two-game home series

Emily Dreger, JOUR 359 contributor

November 13, 2024

Texas A&M races down the ice working to keep SMU out of the goal after sending two players to the penalty box following a fight between the teams at Spirit Ice Arena on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024.

Coming off a win against SMU on Friday, Texas A&M lost Game 2 of the home series, 5-3, at Spirit Ice Arena on Saturday. The Aggies are now 9-4-2 while the Mustangs are 4-7-1 in the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The Aggies started aggressive and had a 3-1 lead on the Mustangs by the end of the first period. The Maroon and White quickly fell behind in the second period after a fight broke out among four players. SMU ended the game with 18 penalty minutes from nine infractions while A&M tallied 14 penalty minutes with seven infractions.

By the end of the second period, with only three A&M players on the ice against SMU’s five players due to the fight, the Aggies quickly fell behind.

“We have an off weekend here to kind of focus up and watch some film,” nuclear engineering junior and forward Mason Burdett said. “It’s a good team coming down to play us, and it’s an important four points we want to take going into the end of the semester.”

Junior forward Nicholas Leone lines up the shot from the top of the left circle in Texas A&M’s 6-3 victory over Texas at Spirit Ice Arena on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Wyatt Watson)

The Mustangs kept the Aggies on their toes with a high-contact start, keeping the puck on SMU’s side of the ice, but A&M came out with its first goal by junior forward Jacob Smith with 14:20 left in the first period.

Only 54 seconds after their first point, the Aggies made it back down the ice with goal No. 2 made by computer science senior and forward Ethan Chen, assisted by Burdett.

With only 4:02 left on the clock in the first period, A&M scored its third and final goal of the game behind general engineering freshman and forward Andrew Green.

After the first puck drop of the season at the annual Maroon & White game on Aug. 30. (Photo by Cassandra Brewer)

One first-time Aggie hockey fan said she was excited to see the team doing so well early on in the game.

“It was honestly such a rush with how fast the game was moving,” sociology senior Abby Ming said. “Having a friend on the team, I knew they were good, but I really enjoyed getting to watch the sport firsthand.”

A&M will face off against East Texas Baptist University, winners of the 2023 Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference championship, at Spirit Ice Arena on Nov. 22-23.

Emily Dreger is a university studies junior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.

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