(Mesa, AZ) After a suspended home opener on Friday night, the Buccaneers’ homecoming party was spoiled as the Lions of Loyola Marymount defeated the Buccaneers 9-4 at the Coyotes Community Ice Center on Saturday night.
Evan McMillan and Brendan Carney led the Lions, with the former scoring four times and the latter putting on a hat trick display. LMU troubled Coyotes goalie Blaise Becker on 48 shots, on what was a down night for the freshman from Jamaica Queens, N.Y., who made 39 saves.
Lions netminder Christopher Cantillo stopped 24 of 28 shots from the Buccaneers, with the only blemishes coming from a pair of goals by Matthew Gagliano, one from Tyler Ward and one from Michael Juarez.
It was a scrappy start to the game, as both sides looked to set the tone of the game physically. The Buccaneers opened up scoring on the powerplay after Juarez was fed a great pass from Gagliano, sliding in behind Lions goalie Cantillo with 9:08 left in the first. The Lions answered back shortly after, though, as McMillan tallied his first of the game.
“It’s about taking advantage of mistakes, especially with a man advantage,” said Bucs Head Coach Jeff Zimmel prior to the start of the game; and taking advantage of mistakes is exactly what the Bucs did. After a slashing penalty taken by LMU starting defenseman John Lackey, Gagliano found space past Cantillo to regain the lead for the Buccaneers.
Loyola Marymount got to work quickly though, and the Buccaneers could not answer in any way in the final 10 minutes of the second period. Steven Lo got the goal with 8:13 to go in the period, then McMillan tucked home his second and third of the night with goals at 3:57 and 3:15 of the second period, respectively. Carney tacked on his first of the game with just nine seconds to go in the frame, with the final damage a 5-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
McMillan stayed true to form quickly into the third period, as he put in his fourth goal of the game with 16:23 left in the third. The Buccaneers did show some fight in the third, however, as Ward scored with 13:40 left in the third, followed by Gagliano’s second of the night on the powerplay with 10:39 left in the final frame. Gagliano’s tally, unassisted, cut the lead to 6-4, but the Lions erased all doubt with three goals in the final five minutes of the third period. Carney finished off the hat trick, while Dylan Slaysman scored his first of the contest with just 11 seconds remaining.
The Buccaneers return to the ice next Friday, Oct. 20 as they travel to Flagstaff to take on Northern Arizona before returning home on Saturday to take on the Lumberjacks at the Community Ice Center on Saturday, Oct. 21.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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