Hockey Routs Eagles on Senior Day

Hockey Routs Eagles on Senior Day
January 26, 2024

(Howell, MI)-- It was Senior Day at 140 Ice Den for the Cleary Cougar hockey team, and the Cougars sent their eight graduating seniors off in style, as they dominated the visiting Eastern Michigan Eagles Friday evening.

Zack Wiener would get things going in the fourth minute of action, when he scored the game's only power play goal, with assists from Wes Smith and Billy Simms, to give Cleary an early lead.  Simms would add a second Cougar goal just four minutes later, and Brendyn Galloner scored his first goal of the game shortly after.  An Eagle goal would cut the deficit to 3-1, and that score would hold through the rest of the opening period.

The Cougars would keep it going in the second period, as they added four more goals to their total.  Cam Thomas would score his first goal of the game, and just three minutes later, Reno Parker would get on the scoreboard.  Garrett Alton scored the team's sixth, and Brendyn Galloner scored his second goal of the game to round out the period's scoring.

In the third period, the Eagles would strike first to cut the Cougar lead to 7-2, but Cleary would score ten unanswered goals to finish the game.  Cleary would get goals from Bennett Sheppard, Cam Thomas two times, Joe Heinzelman two times, Wes Smith, Levi Herauf, Ben Gledhow, Brendyn Galloner, and Alessandro Nicastro in the period.

The 17-2 win is the largest in program history, and the 17 goals is the most scored in a single game in program history.  Cam Thomas and Brendyn Galloner's hat-tricks were the first of their Cleary careers.  Twelve different Cougars would score goals, while 16 total players had at least an assist.  Nick Schittenhelm made 19 saves on 21 shots faced to pick up his first career victory.

Cleary improves to 12-18, and will be back in action on Saturday when they take on the EMU Eagles in game two of their weekend series.  The game will get underway at 5:00 PM.