The Bilkent men’s ice hockey team has just finished competing in the group stage of the Turkish University Sports Federation ice hockey championship. The group games took place in Ankara between February 12 and March 3.
Teams competed in three groups. Bilkent was in Group A, along with Ataturk University, Erzurum Technical University and METU. Other universities competing in the tournament were Ankara,TOBB ETÜ, Hacettepe and Atılım in Group B, and Kocaeli, İstanbul, Koç and İTÜ in Group C.
The Bilkent squad, whose motto is “Just keep skating,” played their first game against Erzurum Technical University, winning by a score of 9-4. The second game, against METU, saw an even greater margin of victory for Bilkent: 19-0. However, in the last game against Atatürk University, Bilkent finally went down to defeat, 15-7.
Atatürk University ended up ranking first in Group A, with Bilkent second. The first-ranked team from each group will go on to play in the championship finals, to be held in Erzurum.
Team members (from left to right):
Back: Arda Özçelik (Coach), Berkay Arısoy, Mehmet Ünalan, Can Acar, Taha Kavlakoğlu, Dora Karabul, Ömer Öney
Front: Taha Afal, Alperen Alparslan, Berkcan Öztürk, Burak Aksoy