Arkansas finishes semester with sweep of Memphis

Arkansas (17-8-1) finished the first semester of play with a convincing sweep of the Memphis Tigers (4-9-0) by outscoring the Tigers 26-1 over the two weekend games.  In Friday’s contest, leading scorer Martin Sundstedt contributed three goals and two assists.  His teammates Johnny Stromp, Nick Fontana, and Ryan Machos each contributed two goals.  The Hogs finished the night with a dominating 13-0 win, and goaltender Tommy Courtney earned the shutout.

Saturday’s contest brought more of the same as the Razorbacks cruised to a 13-1 win.  Garth Derry scored three goals as did Forest Mudgett who also assisted on two others.  Johnny Stromp and Martin Sundstedt were again significant contributors; Johnny potted two goals and assisted on three more while Martin earned five assists.  Ray Herndon scored the Tigers’ lone goal.  Tommy Courtney was again in the cage for the Hogs and earned the victory.

The Razorbacks are now at the midway point in the season and take a break for approximately three weeks before returning to work on January 4.  After a week of winter training camp, the Hogs will travel to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville to take on the Cougars in a pair of games on January 11 & 12.  The Razorbacks return home on 1/25 & 1/26 to take on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (DII).  The two programs have never played one another.

Notably, the team’s seventeen total wins in the first semester ties a team best.  Arkansas also posted seventeen wins in the first semester of the 2010-11 season and came close to that achievement during the 2009-10 season with sixteen first semester victories.

Finally, the second national ranking was released on Friday, December 7, and the Hogs remain the #6 team in the South Region.  You can review all of the rankings here.