From Aquinas Athletics
By Alex Eisen
Fraser, Mich. — Team captains Brandon Rozema and Mason Stewart each netted a pair of goals on Saturday (Jan. 7) to help the Aquinas men’s hockey team knock off Rochester on back-to-back nights.
After winning 7-2 at home on Friday, the Saints delivered an encore performance the following night with a 6-1 win at the Big Boy Arena in Fraser, Mich.
With the win, Aquinas improved to 11-10 overall (6-7 WHAC). Rochester is now 1-15 overall and remains winless in the conference (0-14).
The Saints didn’t waste any time gaining control of Saturday’s contest with four goals in the first period, three of which came in the first 10 minutes. Mitchell Hoon scored first, assisted by Danny Barry and Kirwin Johnson.
Then, Rozema scored twice in 29 seconds to give AQ an early 3-0 lead. Stewart, who got the second helper on Rozema’s first goal, added the fourth goal with 6:38 remaining in the opening period. Darren Johnson picked up a hat trick of assists. He had the first assist on both of Rozema’s goals and also Stewart’s first goal.
Rochester buried its lone goal of the game with 5:17 left in the first period to cut AQ’s lead to 4-1 going into the first intermission. Bobby Kukla scored off an assist from Maxx Savel.
Aquinas added two more goals, Gavin Phillips in the second period and Stewart again with four minutes left in third period, to close out another scrappy affair. Brendan McCatty and K. Johnson assisted Phillips’ goal, while Rozema collected his third point of the game with a helper on Stewart’s second goal of the game.
Five Saints are averaging over a point per game through 21 games this season: Dylan Rumpke (41 points, 20 goals, 21 assists), Rozema (23, 13, 10), Darren Johnson (22, 11, 11), Barry (22, 9, 13) and Stewart (22, 7, 15).
AQ goaltenders Tyler Szturm and Max Johnston split time in net on Saturday with each goalie getting 30 minutes of action. Szturm made 16 saves and picked up the win, while Johnston added 10 more saves.
The Saints outshot the Warriors 48-27.
Aquinas is back in action next weekend with an away-home series against No. 20-ranked UM-Dearborn. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Friday (Jan. 13) at UM-Dearborn and 8 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 14) at Southside Ice Arena.
(Originally published at https://aqsaints.com/news/2023/1/8/mens-ice-hockey-saints-mens-hockey-completes-weekend-sweep-of-rochester.aspx)
