Tritons Go 1-1 in First Weekend Back from the Break
January 8-9, 2016
San Diego, CA and Valencia, CA
After taking a month break for Finals and winter vacation, the UC San Diego Tritons Ice Hockey team was eager to get back onto the ice, as they played two games this weekend. First, the Tritons faced off against the Cal State Northridge Matadors. The first period was a defensive battle, as neither team was able to net a goal. Just over five minutes into the second period, first year transfer Liam Jablonski put the Tritons on the boards first. A few minutes later, Grant Marcy fired a shot past the goal tender on the power play to put the Tritons up 2-0. The Matadors were able to tie the game up with two unanswered goals half way through the second, and early in the third period to make the score 2-2. With only 8 minutes left in regulation, Senior Patrick Salmas scored a shorthanded goal for the Tritons to put them up 3-2. However, with a little over a minute left in the game, CSUN was able to tie the game up, putting the contest to over time. Unfortunately for the Tritons, with 2 minutes left in four on four overtime, The Matadors put the game away with a breakaway goal, resulting from a defensive breakdown.
The next evening, The Tritons hit the road to face off against The College of the Canyons Cougars. The Tritons had a lot of work to do after coming off of a heartbreaking overtime loss, and having only a short bench of 8 skaters. The First period was filled with scoring from both sides, as the Tritons found themselves up 4-3 with goals from captain Dylan Shives, forward Liam Jablonski, and defenseman Patrick Salmas. Early in the second, the Cougars tied the game up, but shortly after, Shives completed the hat trick to regain the lead The Tritons never looked back as Senior Zane Curdes increased the lead, and Dylan Shives scored his fourth of the night. Even though the Cougars would score once more before the second period ended, Shives put the game away with his fifth goal of the night, for a final score of 8-5 in favor of the Tritons. After a rough start to the season, the Tritons are pleased with their level of play, and came out of the weekend with 3 out of a possible 4 points. Next week the Tritons look forward to host a double header against College of the Canyons and UC Davis.
Player Stats:
| Player | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Dylan Shives | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Patrick Salmas | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Liam Jablonski | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Zane Curdes | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grant Marcy | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeremy Fong | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dan Rey | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Adam Klas | 0 | 1 | 1 |
