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EDWARDSVILLE – The hockey team at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has been enjoying a successful Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, posting an 11-8 overall mark with the second part of the season to start right away.
The Cougars compete in the MACHA, and play teams such as Saint Louis University, Bradley, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, McKendree, Missouri and Northern Illinois. SIUE’s hockey team plays at the East Alton Ice Arena. Nick Edwards is the head coach of SIUE’s hockey team.
Christian Perry from Peyton, Colo., helped get the SIUE team untracked early in the season with his offensive scoring prowess. The strongest part of the Cougars is on defense, with returnees Kain Henson, a junior from Alton, Chris Wagner, a senior from Columbia, and Kyle Culiberk, a senior from Triad, being the anchors.
“They’ve played in the league for about three and four years now,” Edwards said, “they’ve got plenty of experience, and they all lead the way for us.”
Goaltending is also very solid, with Justin Nosser, a senior from Edwardsville, getting the majority of the playing time.
“He leads the way,” Edwards said of Nosser, “and he also has a lot of experience.”
Joining Perry on the top line will be Joe Watson, a junior from Jersey, and Lucas Tucker, a junior from Edwardsville.
“They provide a lot of the offense for us,” Edwards said.
Other local members of the Cougars include Blake Takmajian and Phil Culiberk from Triad, Cory Sperry from Collinsville, Trevor Dailey and Drew LaRose from Edwardsville, and Bryce Simon from Alton.
And prospects for the Cougars this season look very promising.
“We’re looking pretty good right now,” Edwards said, “with the rest of our games, we think we’ll finish way above .500.”
The Cougars haven’t been in league or regional contention for the last two to three seasons, but the team is a young one, and also has plenty of experience, and Edwards is hoping that the team will contend for qualifying for the ACHA regional and national tournaments this coming spring.
“We have a very young team, too, so the hope is that we can develop the kids,” Edwards said, “have a really strong season, and keep moving forward this year, and in the following seasons.”
SIUE plays at Waldorf University at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17., and again at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18.
The remaining SIUE Hockey Schedule home matches are as follows:
8:45 p.m. - Jan. 23 - Maryville University at East Alton.
10:45 p.m. - Jan. 24 - University of Kentucky at East Alton.
7:30 p.m. - Jan. 25 - University of Kentucky at East Alton.
