The Nevada men’s hockey team (0-2-0) lost both games to the UCLA Bruins (2-0-0), struggling to stay disciplined with the puck; they fell 8-3 and 6-4. Penalties and turnovers gave UCLA a strong advantage over both games, leading Nevada to back-to-back blowouts.
Game 1: Friday, Oct. 9
Nevada’s defense struggled quickly as UCLA made their mark with a goal just over 4 minutes in from second-year forward Matt Ng. The first period stayed active, with three more goals from UCLA and 11 penalties between the two teams.
After concurrent interference penalties were called on each team, the teams started an even more engaged second period 4-on-4.
Freshman forward Evan Vohwinkel put Nevada on the board 32 seconds into the second period, making the score 4-1 and getting the crowd on their feet going into the rest of the game.
With poor penalties taken from Nevada, including a double minor allowing for UCLA to score on a 5-on-3 chance, Nevada was once again at a heavy disadvantage. After the power play goal, UCLA responded with two more goals in the period.
The Wolf Pack trailed by six at the end of the period. With frustration boiling over, the two teams got into a heated bench-clearing brawl, with nearly every player from both teams joining the scrum.
The start of the second intermission was delayed while officials and team members discussed the altercation, before eventually announcing penalties for four players: Vohwinkel and freshman forward Joseph Franco for Nevada, and sophomore forward Matthew Santucci and junior forward Neiv Gupta for UCLA all received 5 minutes for fighting and game misconducts.
Penalties continued to crop up in the third period. Junior forward Trent Wagner opened the scoring for the period from Nevada once again, just over halfway through.
That momentum was short-lived, though, as UCLA answered 30 seconds later. Despite a late goal from freshman forward Connor Long with 13.6 seconds on the clock, the game ended 8-3 in favor of the Bruins.
Ng and first-year forward Riley Scharlin stood out as top performers on Friday for UCLA with two goals each. Long scored or assisted on all three goals for Nevada.
Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 10
The Wolf Pack looked to come back strong to tie the series versus the Bruins the next day. Nevada sophomore forward Chris Lai opened the scoring for the game with a breakaway down the middle to find a quick shot. However, that point was followed by a similar unassisted goal from Ng who took the puck down the wing to end the first period tied.
Nevada and UCLA looked to be on par with each other during the second period as well, with goals from both teams and only five total penalties, including a 4-on-4 opportunity after Nevada defenseman Alex Ustinov and UCLA first-year defenseman Dylan Wise both sat. With only 49 seconds left into the period, Lai buried his second of the game, giving Nevada its first lead of the weekend.
Despite extending the lead by one early on in the third period with Long’s second of the night, Nevada struggled to keep its advantage as the clock ticked down.
A minor penalty on junior forward and Nevada team captain Franky Griffin gave the Bruins a power play, which freshman forward Jacob Teper took advantage of. Teper’s power-play goal would become the first of four goals in a row for the Bruins.
UCLA captain, fourth-year forward Max Oppenheim, scored to tie the game, with Wise and Scharlin scoring two final goals to end the game, 6-4 UCLA.
By the end of the weekend, Ng had 10 points and Scharlin had 8 for UCLA.
While Long continued his strong showing for Nevada by adding two more goals to his tally, Lai, Nevada’s 2025-26 goals and points leader, also netted two goals on Saturday for a strong game.
The Wolf Pack will continue to look for its first win of the season during their away series against the UC Davis Aggies on Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17.
