Men’s Hockey Team Falls Against Colorado State.
Phil RodriguezThe University of Central Oklahoma men’s hockey team came up winless in a two-game series against the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colorado last weekend, falling to 1-5-0 on the season.
In Friday night’s game, the Rams took an early 1-0 lead through a goal from Carrick Stevens at the 1:27 mark in the 1st period. After elbowing and slashing penalties from CSU skaters gifted the Bronchos two separate power play opportunities, UCO still failed to capitalize the rest of the period. Colorado State added 3 more goals in the 2nd period to make it 4-0. UCO forward Carter Demelo smacked in his 6th goal of the season at the 8:15 mark of the 3rd period to make it 4-1, which held to be the final score.
Demelo has been a silver lining for Central Oklahoma, as he had 6 goals in 6 appearances and he continued to shine this weekend despite the losses.
Saturday’s matchup saw UCO take an initial 1-0 lead over the Rams. Bronchos forward Jeffrey Rebmann scored off an assist from forward Frank Mondi 10:55 into the 1st period. The Rams evened the score up at 12:41 before taking a 2-1 lead through their forward Josh Rudrow at the 15:48 mark. Colorado State added one more goal in the final second of the period on a power play to take a 3-1 lead at the buzzer, despite the Bronchos outshooting them 16-10.
UCO continued to outshoot the Rams and ended up ahead in that margin, 41 shots to 37. Rams goaltender Colin Gallamore was an absolute brick wall, slapping away 40 of those 41 shots to help push Colorado State to the win.
The Bronchos are coming off an 11-16-1 season that saw them forced to deal with a lot of attrition from the 2023-24 squad, who had finished as Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) Divisional Champions and earned a spot in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 1 National Championship Playoffs.
The 2024-25 season was the lone season under head coach Tom Philbin before his sudden departure and was the lowest win total for the team in school history. The Bronchos began that season with an ACHA Coaches Poll preseason ranking of #6, before falling out of the rankings and then popping in periodically. Their last appearance was in the Dec. 8, 2024 edition of the poll, when they vaulted up to #21 after back-to-back wins over 14th ranked in-state rival Oklahoma.
This is their first season under new head coach J.C. Dubecky who, as recently as the 2023-24 season, was a defenseman and team captain for the Bronchos.
The Bronchos will take on Missouri State next weekend in a pair of games at Brightspeed Ice Park in Springfield, Missouri on Saturday and Sunday.