Editor’s Note: The State Hornet misquoted Tim Kesner when he actually said first and third ‘period’ instead of ‘quarter’. Also we previously stated that Danovich assisted a goal to Kesner, which was incorrect. The State Hornet apologizes for the error.

The Sacramento State Hockey Club was close to winning its first game of the season on Friday against the Santa Clara Broncos. But the Hornets could not score the last points to win the game and were defeated 3-5.

Before the game even started, the Hornets were at a disadvantage because they were missing two key players. Sophomore forward Ray Gsell and freshman defenseman Kyle Buckingham had to go to San Jose to get their coaching credentials in order to coach the youth teams.

Adjustments were made by Head Coach Tom Bowen to put junior Kyle Kiaski, who normally plays forward, on the defense and senior Tim Kesner, who normally is the goalie, became a forward.

In the beginning of the first period, the Hornets were passing the puck to each other and kept it close to the Broncos’ goal. But once the Broncos cleared the puck, they immediately scored a goal.

After the Broncos’ goal, the teams kept going back and forth down the rink. Senior defenseman and captain of the club Matt Van Atta got a lot of shots in, but couldn’t get it past the Broncos goalie. Twelve minutes into the first quarter, the first penalty was given to the Broncos and the Hornets had a chance to score during the power play, but couldn’t follow through. The Broncos got another penalty when their player decided to fall on top of the puck to waste time during the power play and was sent to the penalty box. The Hornets tried to score and just kept shooting the puck, making the Broncos goalie work overtime.

“We started out flat in the first period. The majority of our chances (to score) came in the second and third period,” said Kesner.

The second period started out the same as the first with the Broncos scoring another goal, shooting past sophomore goalie Gokalp Gurer. During the next power play the Hornets were close to scoring. The crowd got to their feet when Kesner was inches away from getting the puck in the goal.

During another power play, the Hornets were even closer to getting the puck in the goal, but the referee blew his whistle thinking the Broncos’ goalie had it under control. The referees made that call a few more times when the puck was clearly still loose and the crowd even started chanting “Loose puck. What the F—?” to the referees. Then Van Atta tried to shoot the puck and a Broncos player slid on his stomach, blocking the shot with his helmet. But the Hornets finally succeeded during a power play at the end of the second quarter when senior forward Ryan Siler and Van Atta assisted senior defenseman Brian Hubbert in scoring.

“In between the periods, the coach kept telling us to pass more and said to forecheck, backcheck and to hit the net more too,” said Kesner.

During the beginning of the third period Gurer blocked about four shots in a row before the Broncos shot over him scoring a goal. When the Broncos received their ninth penalty of the game the Hornets took advantage of the power play. The Hornets scored, but the Broncos scored immediately afterwards.

The Hornets got another chance to come back with two minutes left in the period during the Broncos’ last penalty. Junior forward Alex Shaposhnikov scored against the Broncos and was assisted by Kesner and Danovich. With about 40 seconds left on the clock, the Hornets decided to pull the goalie and put in an extra attacker to tie the game. But the Broncos saw the goal empty and scored a goal within the last few seconds of the game.

This has been the closest game the Hornets have played and it showed. With two key players out, the team was able to continually challenge the Broncos and kept up with them during the game.

“We’re slowly, slowly, slowly improving, but we’re not staying consistent. We need to focus on putting the puck in the net when we get the opportunity,” said junior left wing and president of the club Justin Ellison.

This was the lowest penalty count the Hornets had in a game taking advantage of the Broncos 10 penalties and only received three.

“We’re getting better each week. We just need more breakouts,” said Kesner.

The Hornets next game is against UC Davis at 8 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the Vacaville Skate Center.

Taylor Collis can be reached at [email protected]