Ole Miss Hockey Set to Play Three Games this Weekend
OXFORD, Miss. — The Ice Rebs will play three straight days of hockey this weekend. Ole Miss has two games against the University of Alabama DI Friday night and Saturday night and one against Alabama’s DIII team on Sunday afternoon.
Game one is tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT, while game two is Saturday at 6:45 p.m. CT. Sunday’s matinee is at 2:00 p.m. CT. Alabama will host all three games at the Pelham Civic Complex.
Alabama DI streams its games on Blackdog Hockey. The DIII might also stream its games there.
Ole Miss has not played since its 3-2 victory against Vanderbilt University on Dec. 2nd. Weather conditions forced the team to cancel a few practices and their trip to play Auburn University last weekend.
The Ice Rebs will have their hands full this weekend against two outstanding teams. However, they are adding three players from the injured reserve to the Ole Miss game roster: Ryan Powell (knee), Paul Talbot (concussion), and Joseph Robinson (undisclosed).
Powell provides good depth and is very physical. Talbot is a freshman who played with the top lines earlier in the season before his injury, and Robinson was one of the team’s highest point scorers last year.
Alabama DI is coming off a 7-4 loss against the University of Georgia. The Tide is 10-8-0. It can deploy 3-4 different systems, depending on the opponent. While the team is a defensive-minded team, it has excellent offensive capabilities.
The Rebs must succeed in the puck battles and races to have a good weekend. They had three days of practice this week, but there will be some rust going into this series.
Alabama DIII is a top team in its division. They are 12-2-0 and have scored 26 more goals than they have allowed. Ole Miss is a DII club-level team, but beating Alabama DIII will not be easy.
TJ Lancaster, head coach of Alabama DIII, focuses on the little things like avoiding turnovers at the blue line and keeping the puck in deep, which Ole Miss has struggled with.
Bama DIII is better offensively than they are defensively, and the Rebs have good scoring depth, so expect a high-scoring game.
(Featured Image: Courtesy of Ole Miss Hockey)
Russ Eddins
Russ Eddins is a freshman at the University of Mississippi majoring in journalism with an emphasis in sports writing. He has lived in Oxford for over 12 years. Since August of 2022, he has worked with the Ole Miss Hockey team. While hockey is his main focus in writing, he is also an avid baseball fan. Email Russ at russ.eddins819@gmail.com or DM him on twitter @EddinsRuss.
