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As a long month of hockey comes to a close, the Miners set their sights on ending the regular season on a high note as they roll into the playoffs.

With over 800 students and teachers in attendance, the Miners kicked off game one against Texas Tech early Friday morning.

Austin Simpson got the Miners off to a quick start, scoring 1:50 into the first period. Red Raiders were unable to answer and the Miners would go on to score six more goals to end the period, 7-0.

Austin Simpson would complete the hat trick as Matt Sanca, Carlo Wittor, Jake Kopinski and Dominik Taras would add to the Miners tally.

With no signs of slowing down, the Miners add five more goals to their total. Red Raiders get one passed Trevor Buckmeier and the score is 12-1 at the end of the second period.

In the final period of the game, UTEP added four more goals, to the Red Raiders one for a final score of 16-2.

Eight different Miners scored for the Miners including; Simpson with five goals, Wittor with three goals — earning him a hat trick — in the game, Matt Sanca with two goals, Taras with two goals, Donald Alchin, Fabian Calderon, Jake Kopinski and John Luke Prystako all scoring one goal apiece.

Trevor Buckmeier in his first start at home, saw 22 shots making 20 saves.

Back Saturday afternoon, the puck dropped for the final game of the regular season. Donald Alchin would strike first opening the scoring for the Miners. Three more Miners would add to the total with goals scored by Jon Sanca, Matt Sanca and Carlo Wittor to end the period, 5-0.

The second period would go scoreless.

Ready to cap off the final frame of the afternoon, the Miners score three more goals by Fabian Perez, Carlo Wittor and Jorge Duenas. Avoiding the shutout, the Red Raiders get one back making the final score 8-1.

UTEP will now shift focus as they prepare for Playoffs later this weekend in Mansfield, Texas.

The Miners have asked the community for help in raising money for playoffs. To donate go to minershockey.com.

Fans can also help the Miners raise money Wednesday, February 5th at Panda Express from 10 am-10 pm on Mesa near UTEP. Mention UTEP Hockey when ordering and 20% of proceeds go back to the club.

For up-to-the-minute information on the Miners and the upcoming playoffs, visit their Facebook Page or website.

With conference play wrapped up, the UTEP Miner Hockey club turn their attention to the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference (TCHC) playoffs in February.

Last weekend the Ice Miners wrapped up conference play on the road, going 1-2 in three games against East Texas Baptist and Texas State.

With the road swing, UTEP finished conference play 17-3, claimed first place in the south division of TCHC and earned the Miners a first round bye at the TCHC Playoffs next month, February 6-8th.

As the Miners prepare for playoffs, they are asking the local community for help raising funds for a post season run.

“As a self-funded student organization the Miners are raising money to offset costs for the playoffs that would come out of their pocket…” club officials shared.

Fans can visit their website, minershockey.com, and donate to their Go Fund Me page. Additionally,  fans can attend one of their upcoming fundraisers:

·         Join the Miners for dinner January 22, 2020 at Boss Chicken (6140 Mesa) from 4pm to 9pm. Mention UTEP Hockey when ordering and 15% of you order will go towards the club.

·         Stop in for a bite at Panda Express (near UTEP) on February 5, 2020 from 10am-10pm. Mention UTEP Hockey when ordering an a portion of the profits made goes to the club.

For more information on how you can donate to UTEP Hockey, please contact the club at info@minershockey.com.

The American Colligate Hockey Association (ACHA)recently released the new national rankings for Division II club hockey.

The UTEP Hockey Club is now ranked 8^th in the West Region, one spot higher than the previous week.  Miners enter the winter break 15-1 overall and lead TCHC 10-0 so far this season.

Along with the Miners, University of Mary, U of Providence, Weber State, Montana State, Northern Arizona, University of Oregon, Utah State, Boise State and East Texas Baptist all rank within the Top 10.

Austin Simpson leads the Miners with 53 points (25 G, 28 A) – which is six points shy of last season at the winter break. Two weeks ago against Arizona State, Simpson scored five goals – his seventh multi-goal game of the season.

Freshman Scott Kasaboski has logged 540 minutes in net for the Miners. With a 8-1 record, Kasaboski has a .921 save percentage and has recorded 280 saves.

UTEP will drop the puck on the second half of the season against Texas A&M January 6 and 7 at home.

For ticket information and more, visit the team’s website.

ALLEN, TX – The Miners wasted no time on the road in Dallas, as they swept the Dallas Baptist University Patriots this weekend. With Saturday’s win, the Miners have now won 10 games in a row.

Going back to game one on Friday night, the Miners got on the board quickly with an early first period goal.

Matt Sanca opened the scoring for UTEP with a goal assisted by Austin Simpson and Donald Alchin. Jake Kopinski fed Donald Alchin in front of the net, extending the Miner lead to two goals.

Back for the second period, DBU gets one past UTEP goalie Scott Kasaboski to come within one goal. Right back on the attack, UTEP’s Simpson – on a pass from Alchin – scores 15:03 into the second period and the Miners increase their lead to two goals at the end of the second period.

Right after the puck drops for the final frame, Simpson scores unassisted at 6:25 in the third period, his second goal of the night. Adding to the Miners tally, Dominik Taras on the power play scores making it a 5-1 Miners lead with 5:06 left to play.

Patriots fail to answer and the Miners hold on for their ninth straight win of the season.

Back for game two on Saturday night the Patriots strike first, but the Miners don’t let that lead last long as Dominik Taras assisted by Carlo Wittor evens the score.

Both sides head to the locker room tied at one after 20 minutes of play.

Following a couple penalties, Alchin finds the back of the net and the Miners take their first lead of the game. Shortly after that, Taras  -assisted by Wittor – gives the Miners some extra cushion with a two goal lead.

With a late penalty by Fabian Perez at the end of the second, the Miners started the third period on the penalty kill. Shortly after the puck droped, Alchin – off a feed from Simpson – buries one in the net for his second goal of the game.

Before the sting of that goal can wear off, Simpson gets his name on the board for the sixth Miner goal of the game and second shorthanded goal of the game. And in true dramatic fashion, Dominik Taras assisted by Carlo Wittor scores making it three Miner goals in under five minutes and completes the hat trick.

The third period chaos continues as the Patriots score a couple more. Then the Miners do it again, another pair of back-to-back goals by Simpson and Alchin — his third of the game — about 20 seconds apart. The score is now 9-2 with a little more than 10 minutes to go in the final frame. But the Miners are not done yet, as Jon Sanca scores his first of the season to bring the Miners tally to 10 goals to the Patriots two.

The Patriots would go on to score two goals late in third, but the Miners would hold on to complete the sweep with a 10-4 win.

Following another dominating sweep at home against the TCU Horned Frogs the Miners will pack their bags for an east Texas showdown against the Dallas Baptist Patriots.

The puck drops on the two-game series Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT, with game two Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.

This will be the first meeting between the Miners and Patriots this season. Last season, the Miners swept the Patriots at home with a 12-3 win in game one and a 8-2 win in game two.

UTEP and DBU are 7-0 overall having played against each other since 2015. During that time, UTEP has scored 44 goals against DBU.

The Patriots are currently 6-7 overall, 6-2 in conference play this season. Sitting in second place in the north division of TCHC. Last weekend, DBU swept Texas State with a 10-1 win in game one and a 7-6 win in game two.

Randall Miller returns between the pipes for the Patriots and has logged 162 minutes for the Patriots in eight games. Miller has allowed 27 goals this season, 10 per game and has a save percentage of .847.

Trenton Lee and Spence Cowand return for DBU and lead the Patriots with 17 and 15 points, respectfully. Lee has scored 10 goals with seven assists, while Cowand has nine goals and six assists.

Quick Miner Facts

• UTEP is currently 8-0 this season.
• Sophomore Austin Simpson leads the team with 21 points (12 G, 9A).

Saturday’s matchup will be played at the Allen Events Center prior to the Allen Americans (ECHL) game against the Idaho Steelheads.

Following a 23-0 win Sunday afternoon against TCHC opponent North Texas, the UTEP Miner hockey squad clinched the TCHC regular season title.

In first place, with 48 points, UTEP earns an automatic bid to the semi-finals of the TCHC playoffs next month, February 7-9, in Dallas, Texas.

As a student run organization funded 100% by the players, the Miners have started a Go Fund Me in hopes of raising money to help offset costs for postseason play.

This season the Miners have complied a 21-1-1-1 record so far with only two regular season games remaining. With only two losses, only one loss in regulation, and a undefeated record at home.

This season alone, the Miners average 9.29 goals per game and have tallied 223 goals. In comparison to other TCHC opponents the Miners rank 1st in goals per game, power play percentage and penalty kill percentage. The Miners have outscored their opponents by three or more goals in 19 out of 24 games this season.

Winning the conference tournament, will give the Miners an automatic bid to the ACHA Western Regional Tournament in Tempe, Arizona next month, February 28- March 2.

To donate to Miners, go to minershockey.com for more information or visit their Go Fund Me page.

Last season, the UTEP Miner hockey squad was dealt a card they didn’t expect: a change of game times. With only one sheet of ice in El Paso and an increasing demand for hockey, things needed to be shuffled.

While the Ice Miners were used to playing on Friday and Saturday evening at 7:00pm, the Miners would now be playing at 11:00 a.m. and sometimes on days other than Friday and Saturday.

It was at this moment UTEP took the opportunity to make an odd start time and turn it into a way to connect with the community in a different way, through learning.

Take any sport and you can see how much science is put to use during a single game, hockey requires a lot of science. From the creation of the ice players skate on to the curve of a hockey stick, the idea to mix hockey with a science lesson became a no-brainer, thus the Science on Ice game series was created.

Based on program previously used at the rink during field trips, the Miners took the idea and built it into the program now shown during games.

“In efforts to promote hockey to the El Paso community, we chose an approach that by inviting students to a game introduces them to the science behind the sport of hockey and preparation for the sport as well as the ice rink,” UTEP Hockey head coach Tom Herman shared.

Throughout the game, students are taken on a journey through different aspects of science and how it is applied to hockey and then it’s seen in action during the game.

As student themselves, the Miners understand the importance of school, as it is required for each hockey player to maintain a 2.5 GPA while playing for the club.

Aside from hockey, the club spends time off the ice in classrooms talking to students about the opportunities education has provided them. In effort to continue building on those relationships, UTEP invited schools into their classroom, the ice rink.

“The goal is simple, make it enjoyable for everyone. Introduce them to hockey, but at the same time teach them so many different things about science,” Coach Herman added.  “Education and especially science isn’t always in the classroom. It’s everywhere. And for the students to be able to enjoy a hockey game, cheer on their UTEP Miners and also learn at the same time, it just makes sense.”

Last season over 1000 students joined the Miners for Science on Ice, this season they are hoping to continue to grow that number.

Anyone on the Miner bench will say, the atmosphere of a Science on Ice game is different. Students yell for the Miners from puck drop to the final buzzer and are quick to let the opposing team know who’s house they’re in.

“They are full of energy and excitement,” said Herman. “They make it an unique experience.”

For $7, students are provided a healthy meal, admission and the opportunity to meet the players after the game. There is only one Science on Ice game left this season and the Miners hope to pack the stands once more to enjoy one last game as they begin to wrap up the season.

The final Science on Ice game is February 2nd against the Texas State Bobcats at 11:00am. For more information on attending our Science on Ice game please visit the UTEP Hockey website.

After a month away from the ice, the UTEP Miner hockey team is ready to pick up where they left off, vying for the top spot in Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference (TCHC.)

“Looking forward to getting back and playing games. It’s been a long break, but the club is ready to go and enthusiastic to start back up,” Coach Herman said. “We are expecting a very physical style series. Should be lots of fun.”

• UTEP is currently 12-1-1-1 this season.
• Freshman Austin Simpson leads the team with 59 points (21 G, 38A).
• Miners wrap up 2018 on a winning note

Miner Hockey Social Media –  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

The Miners Hockey Club has announced they will open the 2017-18 season on the road against Texas A&M on September 29, 2017 at the Spirit Ice Arena. This matchup kicks off conference play for the new season.

The Miners and Aggies opened up their season last year in College Station. The first game saw the two teams trade goals back and forth and ended up going into overtime. Neither team scored in OT, however the Miners were able to win the game 7-6 in a shootout.

The following night, the Miners and Aggies were back at it. Again both teams didn’t have issues scoring early. However, the Aggies outscored the Miners to win 5-3.

Opening up the second half of the season, the Miners and Aggies faced off in El Paso. The first game once again saw the Miners come out strong. They took the first game 6-3. However, they couldn’t get the home sweep against the Aggies. The Aggies would win 2-1.

“We are starting our conference play against one of the strongest teams. It’s no secret A&M has had a strong club for several years. Although we have only played them a handful of times, the games are always exciting and something our team looks forward too.” commented Coach Herman.

Last season, the Miners finished 1st in the South Division and the Aggies were a close 2nd. During the TCHC tournament, the teams were in opposite brackets for a potential matchup for the championship. However, the Aggies were upset by UT in overtime the opening game.

The Miners went on to win the TCHC Championship by defeating the DBU Patriots by a score of 6-0.

Both teams will look to build on their success from last season as the TCHC enters it’s second year.

Author: UTEP Miner Hockey

The Miners are set to host the first ever TCHC Playoffs February 9-11 at the El Paso County Events Center. Texas A&M, University of Texas, Dallas Baptist University, Texas Tech, and University of North Texas will also play in the tournament.

As part of the eight original founding members of the the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference the Miners have showed dominance and finished out conference play in first place with an 18-2 record, making them the TCHC regular season champions.

Earning a first-round bye the Miners will take on the winner of the Texas Tech/UNT game Friday, February 10^th at 3pm. A win in the semi-

finals will earn them a spot in Saturday’s championship game.

Leading the Miners Sophomore Jeramy Rezaeepour, capped off a stellar season with 3 goals and 2 assists against the University of New Mexico last weekend bringing his total to 75 points (38 G, 37 A) on the season. Alek Lazarski has had a solid season in net for the Miners. With a 2.98 goals against average the Sophomore from North Bend, Washington has been a key to a strong Miner defense.

On Thursday, the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the University of North Texas Mean Green will face off at 2pm in game 1 of the TCHC Playoffs. Followed by game 2 at 7pm, Texas A&M will meet with the University of Texas Longhorns for a place in the Semi-Finals on Friday.

Ticket packages start at $20 for all 5 games. For more information on the TCHC Playoffs visit, minershockey.com/tchcplayoffs.

Round One Schedule

Ø North Division qualifier: Texas Tech vs. North Texas, 2 p.m.

Ø South Division qualifier: Texas A&M vs. Texas, 7 p.m.

After a break for the holidays, the Miner hockey team resumes their inaugural season with key match ups against two in-state rival clubs.

The Miners are looking forward to their 2016 home opener on Thursday, January 7th as they take the Texas A&M Aggies.  The squad has already hit the ice for practice, and are asking fans to ‘orange out’ their home rink against the Aggies on Thursday. The Game is scheduled to start at 7:30.

After the Aggies, the Miners then welcome the University of Nuevo Leon January 22nd and 23rd; with Texas Tech will returning to El Paso for a two game series on February 5th and 6th.

Season ticket holders can pick up their A&M tickets at any time.  Please call 915-491-7879 for more info.

Author: UTEP Hockey