After seven months of waiting, Virginia Tech Hockey was finally back Friday night at the Lancerlot Sports Complex as the Hokies squared off against ACCHL rival North Carolina State. Unfortunately for Tech, sixty minutes would not be enough to overcome NC State, as the Icepack came out of Vinton on top with a 3-2 victory over the Hokies.
The first period would provide all of the scoring action for both sides. NC State would strike first 11:29 into the game from Austin Finch's first career Icepack goal. The Hokies would respond thanks to costly penalties from the Icepack as Gavin Peduzzi would collect his first and second goals of the season on the power play to give Tech a 2-1 lead. Rookie JH Lages would record his first two points with the Hokies, assisting on both of the Peduzzi goals.
Unfortunately, the Hokies would only be in the driver's seat for 43 seconds before the Icepack would retaliate, and even the score 2-2 with a power play goal of their own from Nick Shook. Only 27 seconds later did NC State retake the lead as Tait Sawden would score the eventual game-winning goal for the Icepack.
From there on, the second and third periods were quiet in means of scoring. Hokies senior netminder Ian Kee had a great season-opener, stopping 48 out of 51 shots on net. On the other side, Issac Tawyer for the Icepack stopped 54 out of 56 shots on net.
In a rematch of ACCHL foes, the Icepack continues to dominate, now having won ten out of their last 11 matchups over the Hokies. Moreover, out of the last four meetings between the two teams, three of them have resulted in a 3-2 final score. Both the Hokies and Icepack will meet again for a weekend home-and-home series in late January 2025.
Virginia Tech will look to bounce back Saturday night as they travel to play James Madison. Gametime is set for 8:30 pm at the Haymarket Iceplex.
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