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It had been two years since the men’s ice hockey team of the University of Louisville had played a home game. One month had passed since the Cardinals had even taken to the ice for a game.

But with a rowdy red and white fan base, the Cardinals put on an offensive show, defeating Xavier University 8-6 on Jan. 27 in the Iceland Sports Complex. In doing so, the Cards secured their first victory of the season, improving their record to 1-3.

“I thought the team came out and played pretty well, skated well, had good speed and were able to move the puck,” said U of L head coach Keith Kenitzer.

U of L’s right wing Shane Anderson scored the game’s first goal at the 14:14 mark, giving the Cards a brief lead. Almost four minutes later, the Musketeers’ right wing Mark Prampero scored his first goal of his eventual hat trick.

But the Cards quickly fired back as they took a 3-1 lead in the first period.

“[Xavier’s] goalie stood on his head a few times,” said Kenitzer.

But the Musketeers rallied back to take a 4-3 lead with 8:55 left in the second period.

“We kept pressuring the defense and firing away,” said Xavier coach Gene Lege.

But the Cards bounced back and scored two goals within 16 seconds, both coming from center Marc Walsh.

Walsh and defenseman Ryan Piros would each add another goal to finish off the second period and put U of L in control with a 7-4 advantage.

Piros added an assist and Walsh finished the game with four goals, but most praise went towards U of L goalie, Aaron Zopetti.

A junior majoring in occupational training and development with ROTC, Zopetti had 36 saves against the Musketeers.

“[Zopetti] was outstanding,” said Lege. “He was hot tonight.”

“He definitely came to play tonight. We owe the victory to him,” said alternate Kyle Miller, a senior political science major.

The Cards committed 13 penalties in which one or two of their players were in the penalty box for up to two minutes a piece.

At times that left the Cards defense, and especially Zopetti, with the task of facing a four on five or even three on five power play.

However, the Musketeers were unable to take advantage of the opportunities.

“That hurt us a lot,” said Lege of the power play opportunities.

“I was in the military for eight years, so I can deal with pressure,” said Zopetti, who was awarded the game puck. “The defense stepped up and we began to play smart hockey.”

“The team stuck together and fought hard when they needed to,” said Kenitzer.

Praise also went out to the few hundred cheering Cardinal fans that came to support the team.

“It was one of the best home showings we’ve had,” said Marcus Roach, a former U of L player and currently a U of L assistant coach working primarily with goaltending. “It was the best I’ve seen since a game against [the University of Kentucky].”

“It was great,” said Zopetti. “I was surprised. I grew up in Michigan where hockey was life and down here it’s all football and basketball. But this was great.”

“Our student section was huge for this game. They stayed rowdy and stayed cheering,” said Miller. “They kept us excited and kept our adrenaline going.”

Dustin Durr, a freshman majoring in sports administration, was one of the rowdy fans in the student section.

“I love hockey. I’ll come to more of these games – it’s crazy. Football, basketball and now hockey – I didn’t expect this one,” said Durr.

However, the ice hockey team is struggling to keep up. According to Miller, the team lacks sponsorship and needs money to pay for hosting the games.

“But if we keep getting student sections like this, it should pay for itself,” said Miller.

The next home game at Iceland Sports Complex is on Feb. 10 against Dennison University. Student admission is $4 with a student ID. General admission is $5.