Story

Yellow Jackets skate past Seminoles, meet Georgia next

Georgia Tech's Brian O'Connor loses his footing on the ice during Friday's game against Florida State. (Photo: Stephen Berend)

Georgia Tech 7, Florida St. 4

Message to the Georgia Ice Dogs: Bring it on. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets say they're ready for you.

The Yellow Jackets cruised to a 7-4 victory over Florida State in Friday night's first game of the ninth annual Memorial Health Hockey Classic.

Now Georgia Tech is eager to take the ice at the Savannah Civic Center and snap Georgia's three-year winning streak. The teams will play at 8:30 p.m. today to determine who will hoist the Thrasher Cup for a fifth time. FSU (4-3) will play Florida (1-9) at 5:30 p.m.

Georgia Tech (12-4) has won the tournament four times (1999, 2001-03). Georgia (5-7) also has won the event four times (2000, 2004-06). Earlier this season, the Yellow Jackets beat the Ice Dogs, 5-3.

"The Georgia game is pretty big for us," said Georgia Tech forward Brendan O'Leary, who scored two goals against FSU. "We're all anticipating it."

The Yellow Jackets did not expect the Seminoles to post a 1-0 lead only 1:22 into the game, but that's precisely what happened when FSU forward Darren Grassey received a pass from teammate Howie Stoughton and fired the puck past Georgia Tech goaltender Craig Tabita, who made the first start of his career.

"I thought that goal was kind of a fluke," said Tabita, who inherited the job between the pipes when three-year starter Nick Rice graduated in December. "Any time you give up a goal that early on, you just have to ignore it, move on and focus on the rest of the game."

Said FSU's Stoughton, "We came out pretty strong. It was a good play by Grassey. After that, we kind of laid back a little bit and just lost it. After they got ahead, they kept pressing us and stayed on us."

Georgia Tech tied the game at 1 only 3:16 into the first period when forward Mike Zaucha received a pass from teammate Dan Sweeney and blistered a shot past FSU goaltender Jason Goodwin.

The Yellow Jackets tacked on three more goals by O'Leary, forward Tom Porter and Sweeney for a 4-1 lead.

"We had a hard skate (Friday) morning," O'Leary said of practice. "I thought we were going to be tired, but I guess we got our legs under us. We weren't that tired."

FSU's Stoughton answered with a goal, trimming the score to 4-2 at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Georgia Tech generated two more goals - the second each for Sweeney and O'Leary - and the Yellow Jackets' defense helped Tabita register a shutout for 20 minutes.

"Coach (Greg Stathis) told us to hold them to limited shots and try to build confidence for our goalie (Tabita)," Sweeney said. "This was his first start, and especially to do it in Savannah in front of all these people, it's definitely a big win for him."

Said Tabita, "(The shutout) definitely improved my confidence."

In the third period, Georgia Tech defenseman B.J. Stapleton scored for a 7-2 lead, but FSU's Stoughton responded by scoring his second goal of the game to make it 7-3.

The Seminoles cut the score to 7-4 when defenseman Austin Chinick tacked on a goal with 8 seconds to play.

"Nothing against Florida State, they were a worthy opponent," Tabita said, "but Georgia is at a whole other level."

Said FSU's Stoughton, "After losing this game, we've definitely got to beat the Gators. It's always sweeter to beat them."

Georgia Tech 4 2 1 - 7

Florida State 2 0 2 - 4

First period: FSU, 1:22-Darren Grassey (Howie Stoughton); GT, 3:16-Mike Zaucha (Dan Sweeney); GT, 9:26-Brendan O'Leary (Tom Porter, Zaucha); GT, 10:02-Porter (Zaucha, Sweeney); GT, 15:33-Sweeney (Arne Krogh); FSU, 17:30-Stoughton (Stephen Halczyn, Grassey). Second period: GT, 7:47-Sweeney (Porter); GT, 11:52-O'Leary (Christian Gattung). Third period: GT, 11:52-B.J. Stapleton (Porter); FSU, 13:23-Stoughton (Stephen Riegler, Ken Spiro); FSU, 19:52-Austin Chinick (Grassey, Stoughton).