By Josh Brannock
In just its second year of competition, the UNF ice hockey team has made strides to become the best team affiliated with the Ospreys logo. In the fall half of the season the team managed to post a 15-2 record.
One of the the team’s losses came from a game against Life University, the team beat Life in three out of the four games they played this year including two wins at Life.
The University of South Florida Bulls handed the Ospreys their other loss. UNF only had six players for the game do to suspensions from the first game of the series. The Ospreys won the first game against USF in a comeback thriller 5-4.
The Ospreys will go into Winter Break as one of the top-ranked teams in the south region in Division III. Some of the top teams in the conference include the University of Florida Gators, the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles, and the University of Central Florida Knights.
The team will be entering the next part of its season after getting two wins against FIT, including a blowout 22-0 win Nov. 18. The team finished November with a 6-0 record and a seven-game winning streak.
“These are awesome games to build our way into the rest of the season,” goalie coach Hans King said. “On the fundamental part, we’re growing.”
In the win against Florida Tech Nov. 18, goalie Matt Wiesner posted his first shutout in his collegiate career.
“It felt pretty awesome,” Wiesner said. “I had a couple of shots that was scary, but I got through it and stopped the puck.”
Wiesner was also glad to see a new goalie come onto the team halfway through the season.
“It was actually pretty good because I was getting pretty tired after going game-by-game,” he said. “He’s taught me a few things. He’s got a little bit more experience in net, and he’s been helping me during practices.”
Other teams around the league are beginning to notice the Ospreys and are now putting a target on their back.
“Other teams want to play us, and other teams are scared to play us,” King said. “There’s a lot more kids who want to play for UNF because they see an organization that can move forward and win games.”
The Ospreys will begin its winter/spring season Jan. 6th as they travel to Kennesaw State to play the first game of back-to-back games against the Owls. The Ospreys have already beaten the Owls twice 7-1 Nov. 11 and Nov.12.
The team feels confident that they will continue their dominance going into to the spring portion of their season. Even with a slate of games that include showdowns against UF and Division II Duke Blue Devils, the team feels no one will stand in its way.
“I expect to win every game,” Wiesner said. “I don’t know if there’s any game that we should even have trouble with.”
