Showing little of the rust that comes with most season openers, the Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team used a pair of fast starts to sweep Northern Arizona University's Division 2 team in two games to open the 2023-24 season schedule. The Lopes opened the campaign with a high-powered 7-5 victory over the IceJacks Friday night in Flagstaff, and followed that up with a 5-3 victory to break the seal on the home side of the schedule at GCU's home ice, AZ Ice Arcadia, in Phoenix Saturday night. It's the third straight year that the Lopes have opened both their road and home schedules with a victory.

Both games featured a lopsided first period, with the Lopes holding a comfortable 4-0 edge after the first 20 minutes each night. Thanks to that, the Lopes never trailed throughout the weekend – although the IceJacks made things interesting in Saturday's game by coming within a goal after two periods of play. After GCU's Hunter Schmitz, Michael Lewis, Kolby Donovan and Luke Busher each found the net within an eight-minute span in the first period, the Lopes' aggressiveness came back to haunt them in the 2^nd frame. The Lopes amassed five penalties in the period, allowing the IceJacks to power back with a trio of power-play goals (one a 5-on-3 score) to cut the Lopes' lead to a single goal heading to the final 20 minutes.

Throughout the matchup, though, shots on goal were few for NAU, and in the 3^rd period, that fact hurt the IceJacks' comeback chances as they came up empty on all five shots in the final frame. GCU's defense wore down and frustrated the NAU attackers, and after GCU sophomore Gavin Uckele posted his 3^rd assist of the night, setting up Braden Husby with an insurance goal for the Lopes three minutes into the 3^rd, the IceJacks deflated. Husby and Donovan both added an assist on the night to go along with their goals, and the Lopes outshot the IceJacks overall, 39-17. Lopes' sophomore goalie Jacob DeMoranville took advantage of the stingy backline in front of him, stopping 14 NAU shots.

The normally steady voice of Lopes' Head Coach Danny Roy didn't hold up during the season-opening weekend, and though the hoarse coach saw a lot to enjoy about the Lopes' balanced offense (11 different goal scorers) and defensive command, he realized what remedies are needed before their conference opener against No. 5 UNLV Friday: lemon and honey for his throat, better fundamentals for his team.

"We're skilled, so even though they weren't the greatest periods for the kind of hockey we expect our guys will play with, there was enough skill for our guys to piece things together," said Roy. "The way we played this weekend ultimately won't lead to two wins against UNLV, so we have to execute in practice, and then carry it over into next weekend."

The Lopes will help commence UNLV's 2023-24 season but will do so at GCU's former home ice of AZ Ice Peoria (83rd Avenue north of Thunderbird Road in Peoria) this Friday and Saturday, September 29 and 30. Puck drop each night is scheduled for 7PM.