Tar Heels Defeat Ice Pack in Raleigh

By Eva Patel

The North Carolina Men’s Ice Hockey team defeated NC State, 6-4, at their home rink at Lane Arena on Oct. 23.

The Tar Heels came back from an early deficit with an explosive four-goal second period. They repeatedly shut down the cheers and chants of a rowdy home crowd, answering each NC State goal with one of their own. 

The Wolfpack opened the scoring five minutes in, chipping the puck past the pads of junior goalie Ander Andreev. 

Andreev kept the Tar Heels in the game, making a series of big diving saves beyond the crease. A power play helped generate offense, but UNC ultimately ended the period 1-0 despite outshooting NC State 11-5. 

The Tar Heels made quick work to tie the game up in the second period, with junior forward Daniel (Danny) Hu hammering in a quick shot just 28 seconds in. Junior defenseman Drew Smith made it a lead minutes later, his goal causing an altercation near the net that sent junior defenseman Kevin Ma to the box.

UNC escaped an 18-second 5-on-3 effort by NC State and fended off a subsequent power play. Back at even strength, the junior forward Owen Kenny extended the lead to 3-1 with a swerve to get past Roberts.

The Wolfpack were able to fight back with a goal that got the home crowd on its feet. But the Tar Heels silenced the fanfare just 14 seconds after it began — senior forward Daniel Kauber slotted it in to give UNC its third goal in seven minutes. UNC entered the third period up 4-2.

“It’s really about playing the same way, playing with the same sense of urgency, just so that we don’t get complacent. Because crazy things have happened — we’ve come back from them when we were four goals down, we know what it’s like,” Kauber said.

UNC lost its two-goal lead again, but regained it 56 seconds later when Kauber’s pass found junior defenseman Jonah Bortone and upped the score, 5-3.

NC State inched closer again, but UNC continued to respond, this time with a goal by freshman forward Ethan Balamucki to make it 6-4.

UNC held off the Wolfpack’s late push to secure its third straight victory. The Tar Heels end their month-long journey on the road, returning home to the Orange County SportsPlex for Saturday’s rematch against NC State at 5:30 p.m.

“We’re definitely going in with a little bit of momentum, but we gotta make sure that we stay prepared, don’t get too ahead of ourselves, and make sure we still pay attention to the details tomorrow,” Kenny said.