The Texas A&M ice hockey team nabbed a victory on Friday, Oct. 13, against the Metro State Denver Roadrunners, 4-2. The win gives the Aggies a 3-4 record for the season.
The Aggies came out of the gates firing, with junior forward Robby Sours scoring in the first minute of the evening to give the Maroon and White an early 1-0 lead. Sours, who won the team’s Rookie of the Year award in 2021, now has five goals on the season.
The score remained the same for the rest of the first period, as both teams played spectacular defense, exchanging missed shot after missed shot.
Much like the first period, the Maroon and White got off to a hot start in the second period, as they scored back-to-back goals in the 33rd and 34th minutes, with the second coming off the stick of junior forward Christian Spearman; as a result, A&M jumped out to a 3-0 advantage. Spearman would go on to score another goal late in the period, extending A&M’s lead to 4-0.
Unfortunately, junior forward Nate Polinksy suffered a serious injury shortly afterwards, and there had to be a stoppage so he could be helped off the ice by his teammates and trainers. Polinksy was taken to a hospital by ambulance after he was tended to by trainers, but he had movement in all of his extremities.
Sophomore forward Nicholas Leone also suffered an injury of his own with a shoulder sprain during this period, and he also had to depart from the match.
Despite these injuries, the Aggies kept their foot on the gas, as they continued to shutout the Roadrunners. A&M maintained their 4-0 lead to end the period, as it continued its strong defensive performance.
In the third, A&M kept playing great defense for the majority of the time remaining, but Metro State-Denver finally scored midway through the period to end the shutout. The Roadrunners tacked on two goals total in the third period, but it was too little, too late.
The Maroon and White went on to win this game by a final score of 4-2.
After the game, Spearman said that he feels amazing after his two-goal performance, and that he was fortunate to score two and lead his team to victory.
“We knew they were a good team, I was just lucky enough to pot two for the boys,” Spearman said.” I’m a big team guy, so I hope we bring this energy into the next game, and everybody gets two goals.”
Freshman forward Colson Zak, who was named player of the game by his teammates, added that the team let off the gas a bit towards the end of the game, and that they have to come out tomorrow and play a full game.
“Tomorrow, we’ve got to come out strong and play all three periods,” Zak said.
The Aggies will play against the Roadrunners once again tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. at Spirit Ice Arena, looking to improve to 4-4 on the season.