OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — The Clemson club ice hockey team defeated the Ole Miss Rebels in consecutive games last weekend, the first by a score of 4-2 and the final by a larger margin of 6-2. With the sweep, Clemson has now won seven of its eight total games this season. Last season, the Tigers had just nine wins across the entire regular season of 21 games.
In the Friday night win, Clemson struck first with a goal from captain Thomas Samuelsen just four minutes into the opening period. The Tigers increased their lead with a goal from Herb Kopf, who rebounded a shot from Cade Heinold halfway through the second period.
With 17.1 seconds left in the middle period, Ole Miss got on the scoreboard, making it a 2-1 game with 20 minutes left.
Early in the third, Clemson forward Alex Wallace increased the Tigers’ lead to 3-1. With less than eight minutes left in the game, forward Sully Kopf took a tripping penalty, putting Ole Miss on the power play.
“In the first game, I took a bad penalty,” Sully Kopf said. “I tripped a kid… It was a dumb move, stupid. Got benched eight and a half minutes. It hurt my feelings, but I get it.”
As a result, the Rebels scored on the man advantage to shorten Clemson’s lead to one. Tensions were high on both sides until Heinold reclaimed a two-goal lead for the Tigers with a penalty shot just 2:37 from the final buzzer.
The Tigers came out swinging the following day with three goals in the first period. Forward Patrick O’Brien netted Clemson’s opening goal, followed by Samuelsen’s second of the weekend. Samuelsen was assisted by forward Sully Kopf, who pulled off a behind-the-back feed for some added style.
“I was alright (this weekend),” Sully Kopf said. “You know, I took a bad penalty (in the first game), and I shouldn’t have done that. But you know, I had a couple of assists.”
With 2:27 left in the first, Herb Kopf also scored his second of the weekend on a 2-on-1 play with Heinold, bringing the score to 3-1.
The Tigers were equally as energetic in the second period. Forward Ethan Callahan added a goal with 13:19 left in the second, followed by Conor Brydges, assisted by Christian Romeo and Tommy Papa, less than two minutes later.
Callahan also netted Clemson’s sixth and final goal 1:32 into the third period. The Rebels scored their second goal with 9:27 remaining but could not overpower Clemson’s defense and fell short by four goals.
“It was a good team win this weekend,” Sully Kopf said. “We scored a lot of goals, we were solid on the breakout, strong on the walls… we’re gonna keep it going. Just gotta stay out of the box.”
With the win, Clemson remains the No. 1 program in the AAU’s College Hockey South CHS Division II rankings, with an overall record of 7-1-0.
The Tigers look to extend their win streak as they hit the road again this weekend for a series against the University of Alabama in Huntsville Chargers.
