Aquinas Spoils Senior Night for Cleary; Teams Split Series

(Howell, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar ACHA hockey team took on the Aquinas College Saints for a pair of games, and recognized their eight seniors for Senior Night Saturday evening.

In Game 1 at Aquinas:  Zach Eakes got the Cougars on the board in the 1st period, as he was able to slot one home, with assists from Jonny Gardiner and Ben Gledhow, to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead through the remainder of the opening period.  Aquinas would answer halfway through the 2nd period, but the Cougars would respond almost immediately.  Wes Smith scored to give the Cougars back the lead, and the visitors would hold that lead until the 2nd intermission.  In the final 20 minutes, Ben Gledhow was freed up by a beautiful long pass from Wes Smith to set up a 1-on-1 vs. the goalie, and Gledhow won to make the score 3-1.  A few moments later, some nifty puck-handling by Smith set up a one-timer, with Smith's pass coming from behind the net, to a wide open Zach Perry to score the insurance goal.  

Koby Kebbe got the win in goal, making 33 saves on 34 shots.  

In Game 2 vs. Aquinas:  Zack Wiener would score the game's opening goal just a couple minutes into the action, with assists from Ben Gledhow and Jonny Gardiner, to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead.  The Saints would respond, scoring a pair of goals over the period's remaining minutes, to take a 2-1 lead into the break.  Aquinas would score a power play goal halfway through the 2nd period, but the Cougars would answer when Ben Gledhow scored, with assists from Jonny Gardiner and Zach Eakes to make the score 3-2.  In the 3rd period, Cleary thought they had scored the equalizing goal, but it was disallowed due the net being off, and the score would remain 3-2.  Aquinas responded to the situation, and would score a goal to regain the two goal deficit.  Desperate to make a comeback, Cleary pulled goalie Koby Kebbe with four minutes remaining, and the Saints would score the dagger with just 1:12 remaining. 

Koby Kebbe suffered the loss in goal, making 36 saves on 40 shots faced.  

The loss locks Cleary (11-20 / 8-16 in the WHAC) into the #6 seed for next week's WHAC Tournament in Ft. Wayne, where they will take on the #3 seed in the tournament.