The Sacramento State men’s hockey team notched its third win of the season Friday night at Skatetown Ice Arena in Roseville. The Hornets beat the Santa Clara University Broncos 3-1; improving to 3-3 on the season. With the loss the Broncos fell to 2-4 for the season.

The Hornets win snapped a two game losing streak.

“We played our best game so far. We’ve been having our best practices (lately), doing everything we can and it’s starting to show,” said sophomore forward Kyle Klaski.

Freshman goaltender Gokalp Gurer looked sharp between the pipes, making 19 saves in the game.

“Every week he comes to play?Gokalp is phenomenal out there. He keeps the puck out of the net. He gives us the opportunity to win games,” said Bowen.

Gurer credited the Hornets defensive play as a key to his success.

“They were doing great. The defense is the backbone of the team and I’m just backing them up. It’s always nice always to have a good defense in there,” said Gurer.

Senior forward Tim Kesner scored his first goal of the season on a power-play giving the Hornets the lead in the first period. Junior defenseman Matt Van Atta earned the assist after he hit a slap shot from the point and Kesner slipped the rebound past the goaltender.

Santa Clara struck back in the second period when Jarrod Wells’ goal tied up the game.

“They took a shot on me and I saved it. They got the rebound and I stopped that too. The puck went into the air and one of their guys knocked it down with their hand to give it to his player. Simultaneously, one of my guys got knocked down and as he was falling down, he tried to brace his fall and swung his hand and hit it in. So my teammate hit it in,” said Gurer.

Less than two minutes later, sophomore forward Justin Ellison scored the eventual game-winning goal breaking the tie. Ellison was assisted by sophomore forward Malachi Mahan and Van Atta – it was Van Atta’s second assist of the game.

Junior forward Chase Turner added to the lead when he scored an empty net goal with less than 10 second left in the game. It marked Turner’s fourth goal this season.

The Hornets racked up 39 shots compared to the Broncos 20.

The Hornets and Broncos will play each other at 9 p.m. tonight at San Jose State.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]