Friday September 11, 2026 - 2029 nuclear engineer Center Konstantin Deshevyy takes control of the puck in the game opener on Friday night against the Baylor Bears.
Photo Creds: Kylee Schroeder
COLLEGE STATION, Texas | Baylor came to College Station looking for a hockey game Friday night.
Texas A&M had different plans.
Following a moment of silence honoring the victims of 9/11, the Aggies jumped on Baylor early and never looked back, defeating the Bears 8-2 at Spirit Ice Arena in their season opener.
From the opening face off, Texas A&M played with an aggressive style, constantly moving the puck, creating breakaways and putting pressure on Baylor's defense.
And if Baylor was looking for somewhere to escape the pressure, the boards were apparently the closest option.
For much of the first period, Baylor spent more time in the penalty box than the puck spent on their side of the ice.
That aggression was not exactly accidental.
“We had a little incident last year when we played against them and that kinda just fueled us the past week to just come out and just give it to them,” said 2029 center Konstantin Deshevyy, a nuclear engineering major.
The Aggies clearly came ready to give it to them.
Starting Lineup
Texas A&M opened the game with:
2029 right wing Brody Sloan, No. 28
2029 center Konstantin Deshevyy, No. 12
2029 left wing Tyler Gearman, No. 89
2029 right defenseman Andrew Theisen, No. 53
Defenseman Essix Moser, No. 6
2029 goalie Wyatt Wilhelm, No. 35
Wilhelm and Deshevyy would quickly become one of the biggest stories of the night.
First Period: Aggie Aggression
Texas A&M wasted no time getting on the scoreboard.
Just 2:33 into the first period, 2027 forward John Gorman, No. 90, found the back of the net, assisted by 2027 forward Colson Zak, No. 10, and 2029 defenseman Andrew Theisen, No. 53.
The Aggies kept coming.
At 4:21, 2027 forward Colson Zak, No. 10, added another goal to make it 2-0.
A&M continued controlling possession and forcing Baylor into mistakes. The Aggies were moving the puck quickly, attacking aggressively and making the Bears work for every inch of ice.
Then, with 6:18 remaining in the period, 2029 forward Carson Friske, No. 14, found the back of the net, assisted by 2029 forward Bryce Millington, No. 8, and defenseman Essix Moser, No. 6.
Baylor was having trouble staying on its skates, while the Aggies seemed perfectly comfortable making themselves at home around the boards. With 10:17 remaining, 2027 forward John Gorman, No. 90, scored again.
Two goals for Gorman.
Four goals for A&M.
And Baylor was still trying to figure out what had just happened. On the other end of the ice, 2029 goalie Wyatt Wilhelm, No. 35, was putting together a defensive performance of his own. Wilhelm turned away multiple Baylor opportunities, including a breakaway attempt, while the Aggies continued applying pressure.
Then came the 12th Man.
With 1:54 remaining in the period, 2029 center Konstantin Deshevyy, No. 12, scored to give A&M a 5-0 lead.
No. 12 scoring for the Aggies.
At Texas A&M.
You almost couldn't script it better.
The first period ended with the Aggies leading 5-0.
Second Period: The 12th Man Keeps Working
Baylor came out of the intermission with more offensive pressure, spending considerably more time in the Aggies' zone. The Bears were finally getting some opportunities.
Unfortunately for them, they still had to get past No. 35.
Wilhelm continued turning away Baylor attempts while A&M generated chance after chance on the other end.
Baylor goalie Radcliffe was getting plenty of work himself as shots continued coming his way. A&M kept firing, but Radcliffe began locking in and stopping several consecutive attempts.
Then Deshevyy decided he wanted another one.
With 10:09 remaining in the second period, 2029 center Konstantin Deshevyy, No. 12, scored again, slipping the puck between Radcliffe’s legs to make it 6-0.
The Aggies continued to find openings in the Baylor defense, and the 12th Man was taking advantage.
Deshevyy's performance was becoming impossible to ignore, and apparently this was not his first rodeo.
“Last year’s home opener I had a hat trick as well so I guess it's just tradition now,” Deshevyy said.
At Texas A&M, a school where tradition is practically a competitive sport, scoring a hat trick in consecutive home openers is certainly one way to fit in. The Aggies continued attacking, while Baylor continued finding itself in physical battles along the boards.
At one point, 2029 left wing Tyler Gearman, No. 89, was caught in a 4-on-1 situation after being slammed into the boards while trying to handle what had started as a 3-on-1.
Baylor was spending a lot of time on the boards with even more time trying to figure out how to get the puck away from the Aggies.
With 1:57 remaining in the period, 2029 forward Carson Friske, No. 14, added another goal, assisted by 2029 forward Bryce Millington, No. 8, and 2029 defenseman Andrew Theisen, No. 53.
The Aggies entered the second intermission with a 7-0 lead.
Third Period: Chaos Ensues
The third period brought a completely different kind of energy.
Baylor suffered an injury early in the period, and then the penalties began piling up.
A&M eventually found itself shorthanded after multiple penalties, including a five-minute major that resulted in defenseman Essix Moser, No. 6, being disqualified from the game.
The physicality continued, and a fight broke out with 17:31 remaining.
2029 defenseman Andrew Theisen, No. 53, was also assessed a five-minute fighting major and game disqualification following a review. Defenseman Jack Gesino, No. 9, received a two-minute penalty for roughing.
Suddenly, the Aggies were dealing with a serious shortage of bodies on the ice.
Deshevyy admitted the extended penalty stretch was not exactly his favorite part of the evening.
“Not fun. Our guys were getting tired so they started getting a couple [penalties] but I'm just glad we didn't let that take us down and we were able to finish with a goal,” Deshevyy said.
Wilhelm, meanwhile, was wearing the consequences of an extended night in the Aggie net.
“Uh yeah that’s a lot of the reason why I look like I just got out of the shower,” said 2029 goalie Wyatt Wilhelm, No. 35 with a laugh. “It’s one of those things that happens and those are my brothers out there and I’ll support them in whatever they do even if we both receive backlash for it.”
Wilhelm added that while it may not have been the smartest decision, he would take a 5-on-3 to be with his teammates “all the time.”
The Aggie goalie was certainly earning that brotherhood.
After stopping almost everything Baylor threw at him for nearly three periods, Wilhelm finally surrendered a goal with 4:41 remaining.
It was the first time Baylor had managed to get the puck past No. 35. The Bears added another goal later in the period to cut the deficit to 7-2.
But the Aggies were not finished.
With roughly a minute remaining, Deshevyy broke away through the middle and buried the puck for his third goal of the night.
Hat trick.
No. 12.
The 12th Man.
And apparently, now a tradition.
The goal pushed A&M to an 8-2 lead and officially completed Deshevyy's three-goal performance.
No. 35 Was Feeling Good
While Deshevyy stole the spotlight offensively, Wilhelm was quietly putting together a performance that kept the Aggies in control.
When asked how he managed to play such an incredible defensive game, Wilhelm gave perhaps the most college-hockey answer possible.
“I mean sometimes you have good games, sometimes you have bad games,” Wilhelm said. “Came out today, felt good... couple energy drinks, felt good, sometimes it just clicks.”
That is apparently the secret.
Energy drinks.
I will be asking him for the brand next time.
Wilhelm's preparation goes considerably further than cracking open an energy drink, however.
His pregame routine is practically a checklist.
“I do the same thing every time,” Wilhelm said.
That routine includes breakfast, coffee, arriving at the rink about an hour and a half before the game, warming up with a tennis ball, cutting and retaping his sticks, stretching, waxing his stick and, naturally, another tennis-ball warmup before putting on the rest of his equipment.
The routine clearly worked Friday night.
From Eight People to a Packed Arena
For Wilhelm, the most noticeable change from last season was not necessarily what happened on the ice.
It was what happened in the stands.
“Oh! I’m still getting used to this,” Wilhelm said when asked about playing in front of a packed arena. “You grow up playing hockey in Texas, you are used to seeing the same eight people in the stands and you're all related to them.”
Friday night was a different story.
Wilhelm said he noticed people from different ages and backgrounds filling the arena, including people he did not recognize. “It’s a really cool thing to see that,” he said.
That growth was not lost on him.
Wilhelm said that last season there might have been around 200 people at a game. This season, he walked into the opener and found the arena packed.
For a club team that has been building its presence around College Station, the difference was hard to miss.
Club Hockey, College Life and Apparently No Sleep
Both Deshevyy and Wilhelm said balancing hockey with school is manageable, with practices typically taking place late at night.
The biggest challenge is simply making sure schoolwork is completed before practice.
For Wilhelm, however, there is one other consequence.
“The only thing it really affects is my sleep schedule,” Wilhelm said.
Then came the part every college student can relate to.
“And I’m a college student so I don't really sleep anyways.”
Fair enough.
Deshevyy is balancing hockey with a nuclear engineering major, while Wilhelm is studying agricultural economics. So between late-night practices, classes, homework and game days, sleep apparently ranks somewhere below hockey and energy drinks on the priority list.
The 67-0 Prediction
With Texas A&M football set to play the following day, Deshevyy was asked whether he would be in the stands.
“I am going to the game tomorrow,” he said.
Then came the prediction.
The score?
“67-0.”
After the Aggies' hockey team put up eight goals Friday night, Deshevyy apparently decided one Aggie scoreboard was not enough for the weekend.
Whether the football team could deliver on that prediction was another question.
But considering the way the hockey team started the weekend, the confidence was certainly there.
Meanwhile in aggieland
The most entertaining discovery of the night came during Wilhelm’s interview.
When asked if he was going to the football game Saturday, Wilhelm immediately answered:
“No, we have a game.”
There was just one problem.
His roommate had a different plan.
That roommate?
2029 center Konstantin Deshevyy, No. 12.
Yes.
The man who just scored a hat trick and the goalie who spent the night shutting down Baylor are roommates.
Which means somewhere in College Station, there are apparently two hockey players sharing an apartment, one predicting a 67-0 football victory and the other wondering why his roommate is going to the game when they have one of their own on the same day.
As the internet once famously put it:
“And they were roommates.”
Final: Texas A&M 8, Baylor 2
For Baylor, Friday night was a combination of penalties, physical battles, missed opportunities and a whole lot of time getting acquainted with the boards.
For Texas A&M, it was Aggie aggression from the opening faceoff to the final horn.
Gorman scored twice.
Friske scored twice.
Wilhelm turned away nearly everything Baylor sent his direction.
And Deshevyy, wearing No. 12, completed a hat trick in the opening game of the season.
The 12th Man showed up.
And he made sure everyone remembered his number.
For the Aggies, it was an 8-2 victory.
For Deshevyy, it was another home-opener hat trick.
For Wilhelm, it was an energy-drink-fueled defensive masterclass.
And for Baylor?
Well, the road trip was probably the highlight.
Written by: Anastasia Acosta
