The men’s hockey club went out and picked up two big wins against Indiana Tech during the weekend.

Saturday evening, SVSU defended its home turf with an 8-2 win over Indiana Tech at the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena.  The win came on the heels of a Friday win over Indiana Tech that started slow but wound up going in the Cardinals’ favor 10-5.  Senior captain Scott Walter said that despite Indiana Tech’s young history on the ice, the games were hard fought.  The wins brought SVSU’s record to 3-1-1 on the season.

“They’re a relatively new team to the conference,” Walter said.  “But they were pretty solid all around and played us tough over two games, even if the scores didn’t show that.

“You score 10 goals in one game and eight in another and you’ll win a lot of games that way.”

Saturday’s game started slowly for both teams, with the first period going by without any scoring.  Walter said that despite the lack of scoring, he felt his team outplayed Indiana Tech throughout the weekend and especially in the second game.  The second period brought more action, with the Cardinals going up 5-1 going into the third period.

“Saturday was really about keeping up the solid play we had going all weekend,” Walter said.  “We started kind of slow in both games, but played really well throughout both games.”

Friday’s game was a bit more dramatic, with Indiana State coming in and going up 2-0 on the Cardinals.

“They came in playing well and we came out to a slow start,” Walter explained.  “We had our rookie goalie in the net and we didn’t help him out on defense very well.”

Again, the second period proved to be fruitful for SVSU as the Cardinals powered out eight goals and went into the third period up 8-3.

According to Walter, the wins this past weekend should be great preparation for a tough two-game series against Central Michigan University.

“We lost to Central Michigan in overtime in the first game of the season,” Walter said.  “So they’re a team we know, they know what we can do and we’re pretty excited about it.”

The team now and in the future should have a lot to be excited about, as Walter gave a lot of credit for the wins over Indiana Tech to the rookies who have come in and stepped up.

“The rookies are coming right out and playing great,” Walter said.  “We have an entire line that’s just rookies and it’s tough with all the pressure they go through to come out and perform like they have.

“Steven Roberts, Chandler Foco and Josh Budlong have all really come out and played great.”

Next weekend SVSU will be playing two games against Central Michigan University.  Friday’s game will be at Central, while the Saturday contest will be at home. Walter again welcomes the fans to the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena to keep SVSU’s home one of the toughest to play at in the conference.

“We always appreciate the fans coming out and both nights they came out big and loud,” Walter said.