The Fort Lewis College Skyhawks men’s club ice hockey team made history when the team won the last home game of the season on Saturday against the Mountaineers of Western State Colorado University.
The Mountaineers won Friday night’s game 8-5 and the Skyhawks won Saturday’s game with a 7-6 comeback win that went into overtime.
The team needed one win out of their remaining four games in order to secure the team’s first winning season in the club’s history, FLC men’s club ice hockey head coach Tim Dionne said.
“The program’s never had a winning season and has actually never had a .500 or better season,” Dionne said. “When I took over the program last year, that was step one was to get to a .500 or better season.”
At Friday’s game the Skyhawks lost to the Mountaineers 8-5. Six different players scored the eight goals for Western.
The Skyhawks got the one win the team needed in order to secure history when the team won Saturday’s game 7-6 in a comeback and overtime win for the team’s last home game of the .
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“It was a good way to send off the seniors in their last home game,” Brian Alt, assistant captain of the FLC men’s club ice hockey team, said. “It was a special game too, going into overtime like that.”
The Mountaineers were winning three to zero at the end of the first period and scored 22 seconds into the second period to go up four to zero.
The Skyhawks scored three goals in the second period to the Mountaineers’ one to go into the third period down four to three.
The Skyhawks scored three goals and the Mountaineers scored one within the first six minutes of the third period. All four goals were scored within four minutes of each other.
The Mountaineers scored one more time nearly 13 minutes into the third period to tie the game at six to six and send it into overtime.
The Skyhawks scored with about two minutes left in the five minute sudden death overtime period to win seven to six and secure the club team’s first winning record in school history.
Captain Tyler Scott, a junior who has been apart of the program since his freshman year, has seen the program grow and said it was a special way to send out the seniors.
“Last year, we ended up just under .500,” Scott said. “So it was good to kind of secure that for the first time and, so, I know it made a big impact on the seniors that have been apart of the program for years as well.”
The Skyhawks had four seniors participate in the team’s final home games of the season. The seniors were Trevor Leahy, Sam Grubitz, Kevin Fox and Alex Dilin.
The Skyhawks, who finished last season with eight wins and 10 losses, are now 8-4 on the season going into the team’s last two games of the season at Colorado Mesa University next weekend.