A short weekend for the Jackets turned out to be a successful one. With only one game against Clemson, the Jackets came out well rested.

Good defensive support helped goalie Nick Rice hold the Tigers to one goal. Offensively, the Jackets had a new look.

New line combinations helped to rejuvenate the Yellow Jacket offense. Tech jumped onto the scoreboard early with a goal from Mike Zaucha during the first shift. Another quick goal by Jamie Ledyard gave the Jackets a 2-0 lead.

The scoring continued with goals from Kyle Stage, Nathan Kirby, and Ryan Hughes.

Tech traveled to Indianapolis to face some tough opposition at the Circle City Tournament. The round-robin featured 8 teams, 6 of which appeared at ACHA Nationals last season.

The Yellow Jackets opened against Butler University. Goals from Mike Zaucha, and two others gave the Jackets the win while goaltender Roland Sperlich recorded his second shutout of the season (3-0 W).

In their next game, Tech fought a close battle against an undefeated team from Calvin College. The game featured end-to-end action with only two minor penalties. One simple breakdown early in the first period resulted in the only goal of the game; the players and coaches were still satisfied with their gutsy performance (0-1 L).

The Jackets faced a strong team from Colorado University in their third game of the tournament. The players began to show some signs of fatigue in their second game of the day. The loss of workhorse defenseman and co-captain Matt Sweeney late in the second hurt an already tired defensive squad. The team rallied twice from 2-1 and 3-2 to even up the game. Although out shot 51-19, the team pulled off a tie, which put them into the championship game Sunday morning (3-3 T).

Suffering from numerous injuries and playing their 4th game in 36 hours was perhaps too much for GT to handle. A good team from College of the Canyons was able to take advantage of the situation and hand the team its worst loss in over 5 yrs (0-9 L). The Jackets came away with a record of 1-2-1 and a fourth place finish after opposing three teams that made Nationals last season.

The Yellow Jackets took two wins vs. Mary Washington College this weekend.

The Eagles, in their first season, were just no match for Tech. The final scores were 12-0 Friday, and 9-2 Saturday.

The Longhorns struck first Friday with a goal early in the first period. Tech was not going to go down easy, and rebounded with a power play goal by Jamie Ledyard.

Senior Brett Simonini added another tally three minutes later, giving Tech a lead that they would not relinquish.

Tech's strong third line came up with two goals, helping to lead the Jackets to a 5-1 victory.

Saturday, however was a different story. Homecoming events took their toll on a poorly prepared and undisciplined Tech team.

Texas again scored first, but this time Tech failed to answer early. At the start of the second period, Tech was already down 3-0.K

Tech would rally to tie the game on a power play goal by Simonini, and two more tallies by Mike Zaucha.

Late in the third, Texas took the lead, and the Jackets could not recover, falling 3-4.

The Ice Jackets come away from Nationals satisfied with their performance.

The "skeleton" crew of 15 players traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona expecting the worst. The team came away with a 2-2 record, backed by All-Tournament goaltender Roland Sperlich.

Also highlighting the weekend was Drew Myers first career goal which turned out to be the game winner against Robert Morris University.

The team was ranked 10th prior to their appearance while UGA, ranked 5th, also attended the tournament.

UGA ended in a very respectable 2nd place losing to Calvin University in the final match, further demonstrating the caliber of hockey being played in Georgia.

Georgia Tech Ice Hockey will graduate seven seniors following the 2003-2004 season.

Special ceremonies honored Ryan Hughes, Jamie Ledyard, John Scimone, Brett Simonini, Roland Sperlich, Matt Sweeney and Paul Thienprayoon.

In celebration of their great careers, Jamie Ledyard and Roland Sperlich will have their numbers retired.

Their jersies 6 and 35 will hang from the rafters at the MIC along with Shawn Montague, #16, who was retired after the 2002 season.