Boyko, Cook and Loven have four-point games, Marksmen Beat Ice Bears 9-1

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Simon Boyko, Cam Cook and Grant Loven each had four-point games as the Fayetteville Marksmen took down the Knoxville Ice Bears 9-1 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Friday.  

The offensive onslaught would begin near the halfway point of the opening frame when Knoxville was assessed a major penalty, giving Fayetteville five minutes of powerplay time to work with. Cook (10) gave the Marksmen a 1-0 lead at 9:21. Tyler Kobryn (7) sent the puck up to the far point from the wall before switching positions with Loven (11) who skated toward the net and created a rebound for Cook in front. Eighty seconds later, while still on the powerplay, Connor Fries (4) buried a Kobryn (8) cross-crease set-up from Brendon Michaelian (9) at the blue line to make it 2-0. The Ice Bears got a goal back at 12:15, but Fayetteville quickly responded. Loven (12) won a faceoff back to newly acquired defenseman Tim Faulkner (1) who fired in his first goal of the season to give the Marksmen a 3-1 lead with four minutes and seven seconds left in the period. Though time was winding down, the scoring wasn’t for the visiting team. Sixteen seconds later, Loven (13) intercepted a Knoxville outlet pass and charged toward the net before sending a cross-ice feed to Kyle Soper, who made it 4-1 with his third goal of the year. With just 97 ticks left in the first, Boyko (13) added further insurance from Tyler Barrow (4) and Cook (15), making a 5-1 game for Fayetteville through 20 minutes. 

The second period saw more of the same from the Marksmen, and Boyko (14) continued the scoring early. While back on the powerplay, Boyko scored off a backboard bounce from Faulkner (4) and Cook (16) to stretch the score 6-1. Knoxville stopped the bleeding for about 13 minutes of play, but Roman Kraemer (4) scored on a breakaway from Cook (17) and Boyko (12) at 15:50. Matt Araujo (2) would make it an 8-1 score with less than a minute in the period after Kraemer (1) forced a steal and fed him from the bottom of the zone. 

Fayetteville added one more goal in the third period, off the stick of Loven (8) and would end the scoring with a season-high 9 goals. Soper (12) won a board battle to Boyko from behind the offensive net, before Boyko (13) passed to Loven, who was all alone in front to ice the Ice Bears. 

The Marksmen return to the Crown Coliseum for Wizardry Night Saturday, December 30 at 6PM against the Knoxville Ice Bears. 

Visit marksmenhockey.com for tickets to Wizardry Night and all 2023-24 Marksmen home games.