After both Troy and Beavercreek battled through the first two periods, the Trojans made a statement in the final period, scoring four goals en route to an 8-3 victory over the Beavers in the opening round of the Miami Valley Freeze hockey tournament held at Hobart Arena last weekend.

In the win, Troy Moore completed the hat trick with a pair of goals in the opening period, as the Trojans earned four and a half points in the opening game of their host event.

In this event, teams earn a point for each period won, a half for each period tied, and two points for each game won. Troy won the first and third periods, and tied the second.

“We knew we had to win the third period and win it outright,” said Troy coach Phill Noll. “It was a good win, we tied Beavercreek 3-3 last week, so for us to turn around and win today was something we were looking forward to.”

Troy scored to open the game when Moore found the net from the right side with 12:36 left in the opening period, with assists coming from Caleb Salazar and John Wehrkamp to give the Trojans a quick 1-0 lead.

The Trojans maintained their lead through the period until the three minute mark, when Nick Martin scored off the assists from Ethan Green and PJ Kosirm tying the game at one.

As the final seconds ticked down in the period, the Trojans went to work. Moore took a pass from AJ Noll who tapped it past the Beavercreek goalie. The other assist on the play went to Prestyn Hoefler, and the Trojans earned the point for the first period taking a 2-1 lead.

Only 29 seconds into the second, Beavercreek tied the game at two when Jonnie Ives shot past Caleb Mangas to even the game. Midway through the period, Troy capitalized on a power play goal as Noll scored with the assist going to Nate Uhlenbrock, and with 8:56 left in the second period, Troy led 3-2.

After the Beavers tied the game again four minutes later, Troy took the lead heading to the third when Uhlenbrock scored on a 5-on-3 power play goal, with assists going to Hoefler and Moore, as Troy took a 4-3 lead into the intermission.

Then came the fateful third period for Beavercreek.

Troy scored all four of their goals in the final 4:38. Noll scored at that point with assists from Hoefler and Wehrkamp, and just over a minute later, Moore completed his hat trick with his third goal on assists from Tyler Hess and Michael Hess.

Hoefler made it 7-3 at the 1:58 mark when he scored off a pass from Uhlenbrock, and the Trojans capped their scoring with 1:13 left when Salazar scored on a wrister from 30 feet out, giving the Trojans the needed win.

“We had to move some people around today, such as Moore who has been a defender,” Noll said. “We had to move him up to the offense and he scored three goals today, and three in our last game.”

“We did a nice job moving the puck, and the guys were where they need to be.”

*Troy also defeated Northern Kentucky 6-4 in their first meeting of the tournament, then the two teams came back and played again, with the NK team defeating Troy 5-3.

In that game, Noll became the all-time points leader at Troy with 179 for his career.