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UNT vs SMU Pink Out Game
The Mean Green ice hockey team added another win to it’s already successful record with a 16-4 victory over the SMU mustangs Friday night in front of a supportive crowd of over 100. The night marked the first annual Pink Out hockey game in which the team worked in conjunction with the UNT Zeta Tau Alpha sorority to help support breast cancer awareness, promote breast cancer education and celebrate breast cancer survivors in attendance.
“It was an amazing feeling to have them reach out to us since they have been wanting to do it for years,” said Caitlin Easterling, president of Zeta Tau Alpha.
The team adorned itself with pink, sporting pink laces on skates, pink tape on sticks, and sticking the trademark pink ribbon on helmets. Forward Matt Houk made bright pink t-shirts for the game stating, “UNT Hockey Says Get Checked,” and even head coach Neil Sheehan pulled one over his dress shirt for the game to show his support. The team sold “65 shirts and we donated $400 of profit,” Houk said. The proceeds of the shirt sales were then donated to Zeta Tau Alpha.
The night started with a special presentation for one of the team’s hockey moms, Dianne Nichols, who’s still battling with stage four breast cancer she was diagnosed with in April 2009. Accompanied onto the ice by her sons Drew and Dane, Nichols dropped the game’s honorary first puck.
“This game really hit home for us because of the Nichols brothers’ mother,” captain Tyler Fulton said. “The Nichols family are long time staples of the UNT hockey program and Dallas hockey in general, so it was great to do something for her and her family.”
With the game underway, the first goal came quickly at 4:27 in the first period by SMU, but the Mean Green answered in force, scoring a consecutive six goals during the period, including a breakaway goal, two power play goals and a four-on-three short handed goal.
The second period saw the beginning of a string of unique occurrences, including a hat trick by Fulton, which he scored while the team was short handed, and a mandatory game stoppage with 8:54 left in the period after the SMU goalie’s stick split into two pieces. Without another goalie stick, SMU was almost forced to forfeit the game, but UNT volunteered one of its own, keeping SMU in the game.
With 13:14 left in the third period, forward Brett McCoy scored his third goal of the game, adding another hat trick for UNT, and with 1:44 left forward Ronnie Kennedy scored his third goal to give the Mean Green a total of three. After Kennedy’s goal, an altercation broke out between the SMU goalie and UNT forward Don Le that resulted in the goalie laying on top of Le, which prompted a series of scuffles around the ice. Referees began ejecting players for the fighting and misconduct, and the clock ticked down to the final buzzer.
“It was great to see all the support out there at our game for us and also for a good cause,” forward Hash Lad said. “It would be nice to have that kind of turnout for the rest of our home games.”
The team takes on the University of Louisiana-Lafayette at 8:45 Friday night and at 10:15 Saturday night at the Farmers Branch Dr. Pepper StarCenter. For more information, or to see the remaining 2011-2012 schedule, visit the team website www.unticehockey.com and make sure to Like the Team's Facebook page.