World University Games: Canton's Taylor, USA roll to impressive win in men's hockey
Jan. 12—POTSDAM — Canton native Mark Taylor has been coaching the best NCAA Division III men's hockey team in the nation this season in Hobart College, which is ranked No. 1 nationally.
But his experience Wednesday night coaching the United States men's team in the World University Games had to even wow him.
His team beat Great Britain 18-0 before 1,450 fans at Clarkson University's Cheel Arena and outshot the Brits, 79-9.
"To me, you play the same game for 60 minutes and I thought they did the same thing," Taylor said. "Everybody plays hard for 60 minutes and what the score is, the score is. That's the best way to be respectful."
Taylor has only had a few practices with his U.S. team and joked one of the big challenges at his age is remembering names and numbers.
"The nice thing is the hockey community is pretty tight and some of the western coaches I have a ton of respect for," Taylor said. "Some of the kids who show up, you are not surprised they are quality young men because of the programs they are coming from.
"For me it's an awesome opportunity for this group, to expose themselves to this level and this experience. I always look back and all the coaches I played for, every single coach gave me an opportunity to have a great experience and that's what I'm trying to pass on to these guys."
It did not take long for the U.S. to get started on its blowout win.
Quinn Green, who plays for Wisconsin-Eau Claire, scored 76 seconds into the game on a breakaway. A power-play goal from Adrian College's Sam Ruffin made it 2-0 at 8:46 and then Green scored his second goal less than a minute later to make it 3-0.
"It was pretty cool," Green said of his first goal. "Getting one early just kind of gave everyone some confidence to play a little looser and get going. I just wanted to come out and play and do my best, showcase what I can do and what D-III hockey has to offer.
"I think the chemistry on the ice really grew for everyone."
The U.S. outshot Great Britain 37-2 in the first period and added three more goals on shots from John Mulera, Matthew Hanewall and Jack Jaunich for a 6-0 lead.
The Americans made six goals in a period a habit, doing so in all three.
In the second period, the U.S. was led by two goals from Zachary Heintz, who also plays for Adrian.
"It's tough coming in not knowing what to expect," Heintz said. "It was a pretty cool experience to get out there and play anyone. I didn't know what to expect, but hearing the "USA" chants, it was a good turnout. It was an electric atmosphere for sure.
Jaunich, Green, John Mulera, Luke Aquaro, Austin Master and Heintz all finished with two goals for the U.S.
