Florida Atlantic University’s Division II hockey club (12-2-1) went 2-0 against the Florida Southern College Mocs (4-9-2) in a two-game series. 

The first game on Jan. 17 took place at the Panthers Iceden and the Owls won 8-5. On Jan. 18, the matchup went to Boca Ice where FAU won by a substantial score of 11-3. 

FAU’s forward Hunter Litman proved to be the star of the series. After the first game, he was named player of the game. To add to his resume, Litman tallied five goals on Jan. 18 scoring more than a hattrick. 

The Division II Owls next game will be on Jan. 24 at 8:15 p.m. against rivals Lynn University (4-10) in the Panthers Iceden. 

Game one: Jan. 17 at 8:45 p.m.

Florida Atlantic’s Division II hockey club (11-2-1) took on Florida Southern College Mocs (4-8-2) on Jan. 17 at the Panthers Iceden. FAU defeated Florida Southern, 8-5, to extend their eleven game win streak. 

“Our biggest strength on the ice was pushing plays up the ice, we did a good job at getting the pucks up quickly” said head coach Christian Long. “We have to be more responsible defensively.”

Recap 

FAU established early dominance by securing the faceoff and maintaining a high tempo offensive strategy. Litman capitalized on this momentum, scoring to put the Owls ahead 1-0. The goal, which came just five minutes into the game, was assisted by forward Keith Goldberg and defenseman Declan Cottone.

Offensive pressure led to FAU’s second goal, executed by forward Brady Baehser and assisted by forward Caleb Owens, leaving six minutes on the clock. However, a FAU goal attempt was disallowed due to a high-sticking infraction by forward Jake Murphy.

The first goal by Florida Southern was by forward Michael Woll with two minutes left in the first period. The period ended with FAU outshooting Florida Southern 29-10. 

“We had a lot of plays where we were becoming lazy, we were trying to force plays,” said Long. “The team continuously passed in the same place, so we have to clean up for tomorrow.” 

As the second period started, the Mocs came out hot offensively leading to an immediate save by goaltender Rocco Bruno. After six minutes, Florida Southern scored off a shot from center Will Marshall. 

Florida Atlantic’s defense maintained their discipline, with their first penalty coming seven minutes into the game. It was called on forward Danny Tovb for interference.

The Owls gained back their momentum with forward Justin Harshall scoring their third goal for the night. Assisted by Tovb and forward Emilio Stabile with five minutes remaining in the period. Coming off of that goal, FAU forward Christian Cotter scored again, assisted by Goldberg and Murphy two minutes later. 

The second period ended with FAU up 4-2.

Within the first thirty seconds of the final period, Florida Southern’s Marshall scored the Mocs’ third goal of the night. A few minutes later, he scored again to tie the game. 

Florida Atlantic’s offense answered decisively, scoring three more times. The fifth goal came courtesy of Murphy, with an assist from forward Matt Beraldi. Just nine minutes into the period, Baehser scored again, assisted by forward DJ Randle.

The seventh FAU goal was scored by Goldberg, assisted by Cotter and Litman at fourteen minutes. 

Florida Southern scored directly after their forward Bradley Peterlin received a penalty for roughing. 

FAU’s final goal came during a power play, with Hunter scoring with four minutes remaining, assisted by Cotter and Goldberg.

The game ended with FAU outshooting Florida Southern 71-27. Litman was named the “player of the game” after helping the offense immensely. 

The FAU Hockey Club will play a two-game series against Lynn University (8-8-1) at the Panthers Iceden and Palm Beach Skate Zone starting on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25. 

Game two: Jan. 18 at 5 p.m.

After defeating Florida Southern the first night 8-5 and continuing their eleven game winning streak, the Florida Atlantic Owls (12-2-1) took on the Florida Southern College Mocs (4-9-2) again for the second night in a row and won 11-3.

“I think we definitely needed to clean up a lot of the small area games that we kind of need to focus on, especially our breakouts and our zone ins. It was a lot cleaner and fresher today. I thought the guys really responded well and made things a little bit easier on themselves by simplifying their game” said Long.

Recap

The Owls secured the puck drop, but the Mocs took control of the puck for the first few minutes of the game and played strong defense. However at 16:55, forward Hunter Litman scored the first goal of the night 1-0. 

After this, FAU kept a strong offense and two minutes later forward DJ Randle took a clean shot into the top right of the net, assisted by forward Brady Baehser 2-0. The Owls began to put more pressure on the net and played a clean game where they moved the puck around.

With 34 seconds left of the first period, forward Jason Seefeldt scored with a hook around the post making the score 3-0. Finishing up the period, the Owls ended with 14 shots on goal while Florida Southern ended with 11 shots on goal.

Starting up the second period, Florida Atlantic won the faceoff, however the Mocs came out aggressive and took the puck to FAU’s net where goalie Brian Brady made the save at 19:06.

At 17:44, Litman took the puck to the net for another goal 4-0. Not only were the Owls playing a solid offense and getting open shots, they were also playing a tight and aggressive defense which put pressure on the Mocs. 

The Owls used this pressure they put on the Mocs as an advantage and Litman took another shot into the top of the middle of the net for a hat trick 5-0. A few minutes later, Florida Southern was able to make their first goal of the night 5-1.

Florida Atlantic’s offense maintained aggressiveness on the ice scoring three more goals with less than two minutes left in the period . Seefeldt made a quick pass to forward Jake Murphy who scored 6-1 and a minute after, forward Danny Tovb came in strong to score again 7-1. With nine seconds remaining in the period, defenseman Ryan Brockett brought the score to 8-1 making one last goal to end the second period.

“It was first and foremost a team effort. Players like Justin Machovina, Ryan Brockett, Sean Vasilyev, Declan Cottone were kind of at the forefront of simplifying their game and it really helped us out in the d-zone [defensive zone] and especially our transition game,” said Long.

The Owls ended the period with 31 shots on goal, while Florida Southern finished with 23 shots on goal.

Unlike the other two periods, the third period started off much slower for both teams. The Owls stayed on offense but were not able to score.

After six minutes went by in the period, at 14:22, Florida Southern made the first goal of the period 8-2. Litman came back for the Owls and scored another goal a few minutes later 9-2.

The Mocs began to play a more rough defense after strategies in the first two periods were not working and started checking more. This allowed the Owls to show a rougher side to their playing on both offense and defense as well.

At 6:56 defensemen Nick Oliverio came in with a quick shot,10-2, and at 5:39, Litman scored his fifth goal of the night 11-2. Florida Southern shot one more goal in the night 11-3. 

With two minutes left of the period, no goals were scored, only roughness and fighting from both teams to finish the game out at 11-3 to win their twelfth game in a row. FAU finished with 46 shots on goal and Florida Southern with 38 shots on goal.

“We’ve been able to simplify, we have a ton of skill, a ton of speed, a ton of grit but when we put it all together is when we’re at our best and sometimes we kind of get away from that. So it’s just something, you know, we have a heavier schedule, you know, much tougher opponents throughout the rest of the year” said Long.

The FAU Hockey Club will play their next game on Jan. 24 at the Panthers Iceden against Lynn University at 8:15 p.m.

Kariana Aponte is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at kaponte2024@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @Karianaaponte. 

Molly O’Flynn is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information on this article or others, you can reach Molly at moflynn2024@fau.edu or DM on Instagram @molly_oflynn_