How do you get the attention of your league in any sport? Actually, it's simple.
Take out the first place team.
The UB Ice Bulls Men's Club Hockey will be taking on the Mercyhurst Lakers for the second consecutive time this Friday at the Amherst Pepsi Center. Buffalo was trounced 5-2 last Sunday by the Lakers and will look for some redemption as well as respect.
UB is currently seeded third in the ECHL standings with six points in four games, behind William & Jefferson in second who have 12 points in six games, and Mercyhurst in first place with 14 points in eight games.
The Ice Bulls have games to make up against the other teams in the division, and a key to turning those games into points will be the strong play of Goaltender Adam Golder and Assistant Captain Paul Szeglowski. Both of these players have put in hard work to keep the Ice Bulls where they are in the division.
"Adam Golder made a bunch of key saves to keep us in the game," Captain Sean Moskal said of the Nov. 3 contest against Mercyhurst.
Golder, in seven games played, has amassed a GAA of 4.00 with a 90.7 save percentage.
Szeglowski is among the top scoring threats in the ACHA, with eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in nine games. The team expected big things from him this year, and now with the season well underway, their expectations are being fulfilled.
"This is what Coach Mannix and myself expected out of Pauly (Szeglowski) when we named him assistant captain at the beginning of the season. He is one of the older players on our relatively young team, and we really needed him to step up," Moskal said. "He has definitely stepped up and become a leader on this team."
A key for the Ice Bulls will be utilizing their forwards to carry the attack to the Mercyhurst defense, where Moskal thinks the Lakers are vulnerable.
"They are slow, and with fresh legs we should be able to exploit this weakness with our quick forwards," said Moskal. "They only have one good line that scores all of their goals. The coaching staff assembled a line this week of our strongest defensive forwards to match up against them."
Moskal is second on the team in scoring with 15 points, followed by Bill Mosler with ten points. Offense has not been a problem of late for the Ice Bulls, who have scored a combined 19 goals in the past three games. Another key factor in Buffalo's performance is their penalty killing. They have killed 48 straight penalties over an eight game stretch.
Mercyhurst has been atop the ECHL in recent years, finishing second in the division last year. The Ice Bulls think that the time is now for UB to join them in the standings.
"I believe that we are one of the teams to beat in the ECHL. I believe that they took a game from us last weekend and that this Friday is a must win for us," Moskal stated.
