CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Clemson club ice hockey team improved to 4-1-0 on the season after sweeping its first away series against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Friday, Sept. 29, and Saturday, Sept. 30, by respective scores of 6-3 and 3-2.
Powered by the momentum from the team’s previous series — a sweep over Florida State — the Tigers’ offense was dominant once again as it scored nine goals across two games. Clemson’s defense also made a mark for itself, limiting the Chanticleers to five goals over two games.
“I think that our offense really abused their defense,” forward Ronan Bryant said following Clemson’s win on Friday. “We had good possession time down low, cycling it through, and then (Samuelsen) had two (goals) from the point and a couple of good rebounds.”
Captain Thomas Samuelsen and forward Herbert Kopf scored two goals each in the 6-3 win on Friday. Bryant and forward Will Ralsten also contributed to the scoreboard with one goal each.
After the game, Bryant applauded his teammates for their hard work.
“(We did a great job) working it down low and then getting it to the point and getting shots and people out front,” Bryant said.
Clemson welcomed Ralsten as a new addition to the team. In his debut as a Tiger on Friday, the rookie scored a shorthanded goal.
“Felt good,” Ralsten said of his first goal. “Good monkey off the back. I don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s exciting.”
Ralsten also tallied a power-play goal the next day, followed by goals from Patrick O’Brien and Kopf to solidify the sweep.
“I thought it was kind of a grittier win,” O’Brien said after the 3-2 win. “We were on the puck a lot. We just didn’t get the chances to go our way compared to (yesterday).”
While Clemson won the first game with a comfortable lead, Saturday’s win was slightly less commanding. The Chanticleers struck first at the 14:12 mark, but Ralsten evened the score with 32.7 seconds left in period one.
The score danced back and forth in the second period as well. Clemson took the lead two minutes into the period courtesy of O’Brien, but Coastal Carolina tallied another goal shortly after, bringing the score to 2-2.
Kopf netted the go-ahead goal for Clemson halfway through the middle period, and both teams were scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Though Clemson is proud of its wins, the Tigers highlighted a few discrepancies with their style of play from the weekend:
“We gave up a few too many odd-man rushes after controlling the zone for a little while,” O’Brien said. “We get a little aggressive and goal-hungry late in the game, which is something we can correct for later on.”
The Tigers will hit the road again on Friday, Oct. 6, for their next matchup against Georgia Tech.
