Tigers Beat Jayhawks on Senior Night
February 01, 2015 | Sports,
By: Ben Brady
Since the Missouri Tigers moved to the SEC in 2012, the long bitter rivalry of Missouri vs. Kansas has never been forgotten. After suffering an 11-9 lost to the Jayhawks the night before, it was Senior Night for the Tigers at Washington Park Ice Arena in Jefferson City. As always, it was a packed house to see these long time rivals square off, even if it is club hockey. And the fans were not disappointed as Mizzou pulled off the 8-5 win, their third win against the Jayhawks this year to end the season.
The Tigers got off to a terrific start scoring four goals in the first eight minutes and 25 seconds of the game. Chase Haller gave the Tigers the early 1-0 lead his first of three in the game. Shortly after, Nate Meyer scored to make it 2-0 as teammate Justin Holstein had the assist. Then a beautiful one timer by Jonathan Fenton on the power play made it 3-0. To end the great start was Dillon Starry, who made it 4-0 with 11 minutes and 35 seconds still left in the first period.
The game got a little chippy at the end of the first period, as Jayhawk Chase Pruitt was ejected after an illegal hit on Tiger Ryan Basgall. Basgall, however, would return to the game. The start of the second period was not much different from the first, as Mizzou would score two goals in the first five minutes. The first came from Cory Cannon to give the Tigers the 5-0 lead with just under 18 minutes left to play in the period. Haller followed up with a score, his second of the night to give Missouri the commanding 6-0 lead. Kansas would then pull their goalie Stephen Blank, as Cooper Johnson would take over in net. The Jayhawks would finally find the back of the net to make it 6-1. Not long after Haller would complete his hat trick as he would make it 7-1 heading into the third.
Sloppy play from the Tigers would spurt a comeback from the Jayhawks, as they would score four goals in the third period to make it 7-5 with just over two minutes left in the game. Kansas would pull Johnson giving the Jayhawks the 6-5-man advantage to try and send it into overtime. But the senior captain Mike Rosa would break free and score the empty netter to seal the 8-5 victory for Mizzou.
It was a great night to send off the seniors for Mizzou hockey.