The first game of a new season always brings about jitters and excitement, some nervousness, some hunger, and a whole lot of anticipation. For the Temple Owls, this season was one that couldn’t have started sooner. Why? Well, their first two seasons in the top flight of the ACHA brought nothing but bitter disappointment for the team, only mounting 12 wins in 61 games.

A team with only two seniors, the Owls hope for their young talent to come through and provide the first above .500 season the team would ever have in the ACHA’s 1st division.

With their season opening up on the road against Millersville – a team that, for all intents and purposes, marked this game on the calendar not only for it being their first game of the year, but because they were playing a team, in Temple, that was a division higher – the Owls were looking to get a great start and immediately jump into a winning record.

And although it was a testing night for them, they came out victorious in overtime after being down 3-1 at one point in the 2nd period.

When the game started, it was Millersville controlling every aspect of the game, from forechecking to defensive IQ. In fact, it seemed like Temple was never going to be able to get the puck out of their zone.

With 9 minutes left in the 1st period, a weak shot from the point went in after being deflected by a Millersville player in the slot. He was unmarked and alone, a cardinal sin of defense in hockey. It was a microcosm of the first half of the game; Temple was lazy and dull, Millersville was exciting and pumped up. A 5-on-3 later in the period put the Owls back on their heels again, but they somehow made it out of the penalty kill unscathed and out of the 1st period very much in the game, only down 1-0.

The Owls thought they had tied the game early in the 2nd, but Jeff Polkowski, goaltender for Millersville made a miraculous save as he pinned the puck on the ice with his stick as Temple crashed the net.

Don’t let the 4-3 final score fool you: this was a goaltending battle. Ben Auerbach, goaltender for Temple, and Polkowski had 38 and 40 saves, respectively. Both were clutch in huge moments during the game, but the 2nd period was full of scoring.

Joey Powell of the Owls scored on the power play with 14 minutes left in the 2nd to make it 1-1. Within 6 minutes, Millersville scored twice to take a 3-1 lead before Temple sliced that lead in half with 1 minute left in the period. It was wild, it was intense, and it was a 3-2 score going into the 3rd.

Temple tied the game up with 5 minutes left in the game, but they might have an unfortunate situation to thank for that: Polkowski, after taking a slapshot to his mask, was down on the ice and wasn’t moving for a decent amount of time. He got up, but he wasn’t the same for the rest of the night.

Per ACHA 2nd division rules – since Millersville was the home team – a tie game went into a 5-minute, 4-on-4 overtime if the score was locked at the end of the 3rd. The first game of the season for both teams ended up in that exact situation and a back-and-forth few minutes of exciting action followed. When the Owls were gifted a 2-on-0, Joey Powell deked and finished the shot on his forehand side to win the game for Temple and start their season off right.

Was it an easy game? No, not by any means. But it might’ve been a necessary one to get the Owls into “regular season mode” right away.

Looking Ahead

The Owls will look to start off their 2-game home stand with their home opener on Friday, September 22, against SUNY Cortland followed by a game the next day against Robert Morris University. Last season, SUNY Cortland finished 10-13-2 with their away record standing at 6-8. This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides. A different story, however, with RMU: they destroyed Temple by a score of 9-1 last year.

Millersville plays again tomorrow night against Bloomsburg, a team coming off a 13-3-1 season. This will also be the first meeting between the two teams.

Don’t forget to tune in to GNGHockey.com for Temple’s home opener at 9:20 on Friday, September 22 against SUNY Cortland! Puck drop is at 9:50. 

Originally published on GNGHockey.com