The North Carolina men’s club ice hockey team (5-0, 4-0 ACCHL) earned a 7-1 home win over Wake Forest (4-2, 2-1 ACCHL) on Friday.
UNC exposed the Wake Forest defense on a flurry of breakaways early in the first period. Over five minutes into the game, UNC won the puck near the blue line and got a breakaway chance.
First-year defenseman Cam Glonek drove the puck near the Demon Deacons’ goal and eventually, after a salvo of shots, he caught a rebound and fired a putback to grab UNC’s first goal of the night.
A minute later, the Tar Heels earned another breakaway chance, outnumbering Wake’s backline two to one. Senior forward David Mahan’s square pass from the left wing found first-year Daniel Kauber one-on-one with the Wake Forest goaltender. Kauber slotted away a straightforward finish to put UNC up 2-0.
The Tar Heels marked their trio of breakaway goals in style, with sophomore forward Patrick O’Shaughnessy firing a between-the-legs pass to junior forward Thomas Gilligan for the Tar Heels’ third goal.
After the third goal, the Demon Deacons tightened up their defensive structure in transition and forced four turnovers in the last five minutes of the first period.
Despite this, UNC got back on the right track at the start of the second period with a three-on-two breakaway ending in a putback goal for senior forward Cole Kosowski off a shot from Gilligan to put the Tar Heels up 4-0.
Immediately after, UNC capitalized on another Demon Deacon error, as Matt Grady converted a rebound to notch UNC’s fifth goal.
Though the Tar Heels’ offense went rather quiet for the remainder of the second period, their defense remained tighter than in the first period, limiting Wake to speculative shots from wide angles.
