The Hiram Terriers’ hockey team has made school history, earning its first victory in program history by shutting out Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 4-0 to cap off their first weekend of home play last Saturday afternoon at The Pond in Auburn Township.
“Everybody in the locker room, they all battled hard,” said Coach Jeffrey Curto. “This is their win. It is a good win after the last weekend. We battled and the boys really came into this game really wanting this and they worked hard.”
In Hiram’s (1-3-0, 0-0-0) inaugural season of hockey, the Terriers had experienced a challenging start having lost the first three games, being outscored by a 15-3 margin. The Terriers’ losing streak reached three games when MCLA defeated them 5-2 in their home opener last Friday evening.
According to the first-year coach, although Hiram’s home opener was spoiled, the Terriers found something in the third period when they scored two goals, recording the greatest number of goals they had scored in a period in the early stages of the program.
That momentum carried over into the first period of the rematch on Saturday afternoon, when Hiram struck quickly in only 1:21 of regulation, scoring a pair of goals to take an early 2-0 advantage.
The Terriers took the lead when freshman center Anthony Arthurs collected the puck in a mad scramble in front of the net and buried the shot off an assist from sophomore defenseman Cole Mitchell at the 16:58 mark of the first period.
Hiram increased its lead to 2-0 when freshman right wing Keith Smilowtiz crashed the net off an assist from freshman center Sam West and flipped the puck in with 15:37 remaining in the period.
According to freshman right wing Tyler Arthurs, generating instant offense at the beginning of the game was a big boost.
“The big thing we had seen from the first game was that their defense was weak with the puck,” he added. “We went and got the puck in and got it deep and pressured their defense.”
In addition to the quick offensive start, the Hiram’s defense settled in early, keeping the Trailblazers at bay to take the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Terriers continued to have the upper hand and Tyler added to the lead by collecting the rebound off of his own blocked shot to score on the follow-through, pushing Hiram’s lead to 3-0 at the 15:54 mark.
“I saw my brother and Seth Lockwood coming in so I shot for the rebound and the next thing you know, I thought it would bounce to them, but it bounced to me, and I tapped it in,” he said.
MCLA dialed up its offensive pressure in the third period, winning 17 of 22 face-offs and controlled possession in Hiram’s zone for the majority of the final period.
The Trailblazers tallied 18 shots at the net, but freshman goalkeeper Iannico Amaranto kept the Terriers’ net clean.
“I felt like the guys battled in front of me the entire game,” he noted. “They gave me clean looks throughout the entire game and kept everything on the outside and it is not just me, the boys played absolutely outstanding in front of me.”
Amaranto added that seeing the Terriers strike for a 2-0 advantage in the first period inspired him to keep his net clean, as it was the first time that the Terriers enjoyed an early lead to a game.
The Terriers’ freshman goalkeeper made 32 saves, including 16 in the third period to record his first clean sheet of his young collegiate career.
“We knew it was in there,” Curto said. “All of our goalkeepers are great. All of them can give us a chance. Ian was focused on Saturday and ready to go and I think he proved it. He faced a ton of shots, and he did what he needed to do.”
As MCLA’s offense continued threatening, they made the strategic decision to pull their goalkeeper at the 6:26 mark to have an extra skater on the ice but it still was not enough as Hiram’s defense stood tall.
The Trailblazers’ gamble ultimately backfired, as Hiram gained possession and Tyler delivered the dagger, firing a wrist shot into MCLA’s empty net from the blue line with 4:28 remaining, extending the lead to 4-0 to send the Terriers home with their first program victory.
Although the Terriers have only played four games, Tyler said that the entire team understands the importance of setting a precedent in Hiram’s inaugural hockey season.
“The first week everyone got close to each other, and we brought culture to the school and showed them what a team should be like to the school and we showed it on Saturday,” he said.
Hiram will return to the ice for a three-game home series against Beloit College beginning on Friday evening at The Pond at 9:40 p.m.
