The Ice Hogs returned to their home rink on December 9 and 10 to face the Missouri State Bears (D2) and the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Behind a two goal night from three different players and solid goaltending from Brendan Desjardins the Razorbacks powered through the Bears (13-10-1) by a score of 9-1 on December 9. In the first period the Hogs (12-6-0) came out firing and at 2:13 in the first Kasey Womble scored to give Arkansas an early lead. Tyler Bynum scored his first of two 6:53 in to the first, giving the Razorbacks a lead of 2-0 at the end of the period.
8:15 in to the second period Justin McDowell scored for the Razorbacks giving them a now three goal lead, but it was only 35 seconds later that Missouri State’s Derek Vogler scored to bring the game within two. The Hogs would score three more goals in the period, the first from Forest Mudgett with 2 minutes left in the period and 20 seconds later Justin McDowell got his second of the game followed by Tyler Bynum’s second goal of the game with just one second remaining in the period.
The third period saw three more goals from the Ice Hogs. At 3:21 and 8:03 of the third period Justin Gaddy scored his two goals for the night, and with 1:48 left to play in regulation Johnny Stromp got on the board giving the Razorbacks a final score of 9-1 over the Ice Bears.
Then, on December 10, the Hogs relied on the combined goaltending effort of Brendan Desjardins and Nick Jabs and a high scoring offense to take down the Vanderbilt Commodores (10-3-0, #13 in the South) by a score of 13-0. Marcel Toure of the Ice Hogs (13-6-0, #4 in the South) started the scoring off 4:45 into the first period followed by a goal from Connor Crumblish 9:01 in. Johnny Stromp netted a goal for the Hogs with 3:54 left to play in the first, Forest Mudgett and Ryan Holloway also added to the scoreboard before the period ended, giving the Razorbacks a 5-0 lead by the end of the first period.
It only took 1:51 in to the second frame for the Ice Hogs to add to their total when Forest Mudgett scored his second goal of the game. Tyler Bynum added to the total two minutes later, and 7:53 in to the period Martin Sundstedt scored to make the Arkansas lead 8-0.
The third period saw five more goals from Arkansas, first from Michael Kress 8:03 in to the period followed by a goal from Justin McDowell a minute later. Martin Sundstedt scored his second of the game with 4:29 left to play in the game and with 2:53 left Trent Ritchie got on the board, and a minute later Marcel Toure scored his second of the game finalizing the scoring at 13-0 in favor of the Ice Hogs.
Prior to the game, the Hogs were honored to invite six-year-old Chase Carpenter (pictured), survivor of a recent car accident that claimed the lives of Nelma and Buck Carpenter, to drop the ceremonial puck.
Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt marked the end to the Hogs’ first semester. Join the Razorbacks in Dallas, Texas, on January 13th and 14th as they resume their season and look to extend their four game win streak against Division II powerhouse University of North Texas (22-1-0, #13 in the West).
