By Jake Goodman · A weekend defined by one word: domination. Texas Tech returned to DFW this past weekend to play ETBU and looked like the team fans saw last spring th…
A weekend defined by one word: domination. Texas Tech returned to DFW this past weekend to play ETBU and looked like the team fans saw last spring that went 8-0 that semester.
Friday started with domination; Jackson Wooten, who scored his first career goal in Shreveport, took over in his coming-out party. He scored two goals 10 minutes in, giving Tech a 2-0 lead, before Brenden Cappers added his second goal of the year to make it 3-0 going into the second period. Tech added on the pressure in the second, giving us the final line score 5-0, with Zach Byrdsong getting a gritty goal while Jackson Wooten finished his hat trick earlier that period. Wooten finished Friday night with 4 points, a career high for a single game; on top of that, Ryan Valdivieso stopped 18/18 shots to pick up his first career shutout.
Saturday was more Tech dominance, but in the department of comebacks, while the Red Raiders again dominated in possession and shots on goal, the first period was quiet with no score. The second period scoring opened with Sal Pierro getting one for ETBU to give them their first lead of the weekend before Kyler Kuzar netted himself a short-handed goal, making it 2-0. Brenden Cappers got Tech their first goal of the game shortly after Kuzar's short-handed goal to make the score 2-1 after two periods. In the third period, Tech came out guns blazing, with Chase Markusson scoring the equalizer barely two minutes in before Jackson Wooten continued his dominant weekend, adding two more goals before Bradley Keuss got his first goal of the season to give us our final score of 5-2.
Jackson Wooten's five-goal weekend was the biggest story, as before this weekend the freshman had four points with one career goal; exiting this weekend, he tied fellow freshman Mason Mashigian for the team lead in points.
Will Collins had another good showing this weekend, stopping 17/19 shots; however, giving up yet another short-handed goal.
The Red Raiders turn their focus now to one of TCHC's top teams, Texas State.
Texas Tech did pick up two injuries that shouldn't hamper the team fully. Forward Alex Lam didn't dress Saturday after picking up a hip issue during Friday's game; the junior did say he'll be ready in three weeks for Texas State. The biggest concern for Texas Tech is forward Noah De Haro, who left Friday's game with a shoulder issue; he tried playing on Saturday; however, after warmups, he returned to the locker room and was ruled out. De Haro is confident he will play against Texas State; MRI pending.