BOULDER — No matter the sport, when you go to Colorado there is always an opponent that is circled on the calendar: Colorado State University.
Even as a club sport, the Rocky Mountain Showdown is taken to a whole new level when both teams step on the ice.
The Division I club teams faced off Friday night in Fort Collins. It was an even game all the way through until Colorado State’s Connor Pietrangelo scored the game-winning goal with 48 seconds left in the game. The Rams would tack on an empty net goal and win the first game of the home and home series 4-2.
Saturday night the rematch ensued in Boulder as the Buffaloes avenged their loss from the night prior with a 5-3 win that went down to the wire.
“It’s just being in front of your friends and family and having a crowd like this,” assistant captain and longest-tenured Buffalo Adam Trunko said after the game. “I mean, it’s just like, it’s what you wake up and work for every day.”
Colorado did not lead once in the first meeting between the rivals at the Edora Pool Ice Center. Tides turned in game two as the black and gold jumped out to an early lead in the first minute of the game on Brodie Pearson’s sixth goal of the season after beating CSU goaltender Sam Simon.
The Buffaloes continued to apply pressure throughout the opening frame and would pick up a second tally from Keaton midway through the period to extend the lead to 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.
In the second period, the Rams would answer on a controversial goal from Riley Hunt-Bahn. A goal in which it seemed everyone in the building knew that he was offsides except the man holding the whistle.
Hunt-Bahn capitalized on the missed call and buried the breakaway opportunity, beating CU goalie Liam O’Gwen to cut the lead in half.
The Buffaloes did not let the momentum sway away from their grasp with a response 30 seconds later. Blake Blevins tallied his first goal of the season to bring the game back to a two-goal margin.
Minutes later, the Buffs kept their foot on the gas pedal after Max Pasiennik forced a turnover and Rapolas Marcinkevicius found the loose puck in the slot and fired it home to bring the Buffs lead up to three.
“You can’t do anything about it except get back out there and you know, get after it,” Trunko said about the response to the controversial offsides call. “We always preach shift after a goal even on your own goals. It’s the most important shift so you can’t get down. Get it in deep and then just geek out.”
With the second period winding down, the Rams cut the lead in half once again. With a man-advantage, the Rams executed a tic-tac-toe passing play to perfection where Tristan Maestas was on the receiving end and hammered home his ninth goal of the year.
After 40 minutes, the Buffaloes led 4-2.
Last season, the final game was also a matchup against Colorado State. It was a game in which the Buffs held a 3-0 lead before losing the game 5-3, showing that no lead is safe.
Up two, the Buffs did not sit back to start the third period this time around. Pasiennik, who already helped lead to one goal in the game, picked up the puck in the corner surrounded by three enemies. He circled the offensive zone until firing a pass backdoor where Pearson tapped the puck into an empty cage, beating Simon for the second time in the game and extending the Buffaloes; lead back to three.
“It was a great weekend, in their barn and here in our barn,” Pearson said after the game and added on what it was like scoring two goals in the win. “[It] feels great.”
Maestas tacked on another power-play goal for the Rams with 6:08 remaining, but it was too little too late as the Buffaloes held on to split the first round of the Rocky Mountain Faceoff with the 5-3 win Saturday night.
This marks the end of the first semester for the Divison I squad, and they are not only excited to be back next semester, but they are ready for their rematch with the Rams in February.
“I can’t wait,” Pearson said. “Maybe I’ll get the [hattrick] next time.”
All Colorado club hockey games are broadcast live on the Sko Buffs Sports YouTube channel.
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