From The Standard
By Jayden Pettus
The Missouri State DI Ice Bears split their final home series of the 2023-24 season with the University of Arizona Wildcats. The team honored their senior players prior to Saturday’s game.
This was yet another significant set of games for the Ice Bears as they remain two spots outside of the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament, ranked 18th. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked one spot behind Missouri State at 19th.
Friday, Feb. 9
The Ice Bears found the back of the net first after junior forward Jared Bratton tucked in a quick wraparound goal about 15 minutes into the first period. Missouri State’s one-goal lead held for the duration of the first period and into the second, as graduate goalie Matt Griffin refused to surrender to the Wildcat offense.
Sophomore forward Mason Kaspick pushed the Ice Bears’ lead to two goals nearly seven minutes into the second period after collecting a slick pass from senior forward Evan Ross and firing it past Wildcats netminder TJ DeMeulenaere.
Missouri State added another goal when senior defenseman Tommy Ramer found the back of the net with less than two minutes remaining in the second period, taking a 3-0 lead. Senior forward Jacob Wiethaupt pushed the lead to 4 goals 47 seconds later as the Ice Bears took the shutout into the third period.
Arizona finally answered back a little over a minute into the third period after forward Tyler Shetland fired one past Griffin, breaking his shutout and making the score 4-1.
Wildcats captain, forward Jesse Lowell then scored with just under eight minutes remaining in the period. Forward Dylan Walker followed that up only 17 seconds later, scoring one more for the Wildcats. With the game sitting at 4-3, tensions inside Jordan Valley Ice Park began to rise.
Both teams pushed hard – the Ice Bears trying to keep the score where it was and the Wildcats trying to net one more goal to complete their comeback. Both teams became pinned up against the boards with about 10 seconds remaining in the game as tensions boiled over.
As the horn sounded and indicated an Ice Bear victory, a scrum broke out between the players who were on the ice. To celebrate their victory, the remaining Ice Bears spilled over the boards to meet their teammates. This only added to the chaos as the skirmish that had already ensued turned into a full-on brawl.
Seeing that, the Wildcats’ bench cleared as well. In just moments, both teams were on the ice participating in the brawl. Possibly the loudest it’s ever been inside the Stan Melton Ice Rink at JVIP, the Ice Bears’ home crowd was rambunctious as the players continued fighting.
Both teams’ coaches came onto the ice in an attempt to control the situation, but neither the coaches nor the officials could stop the fight for a number of minutes.
When the two teams finally separated, the Ice Bears celebrated the victory by saluting their fired up home fans before heading to the locker room.
Saturday, Feb. 10
Prior to Saturday’s game, the Ice Bears honored senior skaters Sam Frederick, Terrance Josephson, Sean Hofstetter, Levi Wright, Jason Kelly, Clayton Dawe, Evan Ross and Jacob Wiethaupt as well as assistant coach Mark Capkovic.
The officials also held a conference on the ice with both teams’ head coaches and laid some guidelines down for the game, following the bench-clearing brawl the night before. There was a tight leash in regard to penalties and neither team was allowed to exit the ice at the same time. Griffin and Wildcats goalie Nate Gulsvig both received suspensions for their actions in the brawl and were not dressed for the teams in Saturday’s game.
Hofstetter opened the scoring for Missouri State just 41 seconds into the game to put them up 1-0.
The one-goal lead held for the Ice Bears until two and a half minutes into the second period when Wildcats forward Trystan Swiger shot one into junior Ice Bears goalie Ross Jones’ pads, and it trickled through, past the goal line.
Ramer redeemed Jones’ mistake just 17 seconds later to put the Ice Bears back up by one goal.
The Ice Bears held a one goal lead until Wildcats forward Sam Myers found the back of the net to tie the game at 2 about five minutes into the third period. Both teams fought for the third goal, but it was Arizona who came out on top when Shetland stunned the JVIP crowd by scoring with only 49 seconds remaining in the game.
Missouri State pushed to even the score, but with such a short amount of time to answer back, they came up short and lost the game 3-2.
The Ice Bears finished the weekend 13-14-2 and sit at 18th in the ACHA M1 national rankings. They have one more weekend to prove they’re worthy of earning a spot in the National Tournament.
Senior Spotlight
With the Ice Bears honoring their senior players for the 23-24 season, The Standard will highlight the seniors’ Ice Bear careers as well.
#3 Sam Frederick, Defense
Frederick played in 99 games for the Ice Bears, putting up two goals and 24 assists for a total of 26 points. The North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada native amassed 60 penalty minutes in his Missouri State career.
#7 Terrance Josephson, Forward
Native to Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada, Josephson was a bit of a grinder for MSU during his career. He collected 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 103 games while amassing 89 penalty minutes for the Ice Bears.
#9 Sean Hofstetter, Forward
A pure forward, Hofstetter played at nearly a point per game pace in his MSU career. The Columbia, Illinois native scored 22 goals and collected 26 assists for 48 points in 57 games as an Ice Bear.
#13 Levi Wright, Defense
Wright was a lockdown defenseman for the Ice Bears. Hailing from Fenton, Missouri, he scored six goals and added 20 assists for 26 points in 81 games for Missouri State.
#22 Jason Kelly, Forward
Another grinder for the Ice Bears, the Ellisville, Missouri native scored 7 goals and collected 14 assists for 21 points while amassing 48 penalty minutes in 78 games for the Ice Bears.
#37 Clayton Dawe, Forward
Dawe was a solid two-way forward for the Ice Bears over his 61 games played. Totalling 55 penalty minutes, the Ellisville, Missouri native scored 20 goals and collected 29 assists for 49 points.
#71 Evan Ross, Forward
Ross played in four seasons with the Ice Bears. The Omaha, Nebraska native scored 27 goals and collected 39 assists for 66 points in 105 games for Missouri State. He also collected 82 penalty minutes.
#74 Jacob Wiethaupt, Forward
Pure goalscorer for MSU, the O’Fallon, Missouri native scored 52 goals and added 44 assists for 96 points in 110 games over four seasons for the team. He collected 102 penalty minutes in his four-year career.
Mark Capkovic, Assistant Coach
Capkovic played in 40 games for the Ice Bears, scoring 3 goals and collecting 15 assists for 18 points. He had an astounding 96 penalty minutes in just 40 games. This was his first season as an assistant coach for the team.
The Ice Bears will play their final series of the regular season against the Maryville University Saints. The series begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16th at Maryville University Hockey Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
(Originally published at https://www.the-standard.org/sports/division-i-ice-bears-finish-final-home-series-of-2023-24-season-against-university-of/article_4028ae94-cabc-11ee-be30-d71b16ed4490.html)
