The Colorado men’s club Division I hockey team opened their season at home against the Midland Warriors.
After just missing the tournament last year, the Buffs looked to start their 2024-25 campaign off strong with a win on opening night. In the first minute of this game, each team had a shot toward the net, but neither Andy Larson of the Warriors nor Dougie Wood of the Buffs could find the back of the net.
Both squads committed a penalty in the first period, the Buffs' advantage happened at about the halfway mark in the period, but they could not capitalize. The Midland Warriors drew a late penalty in the first period. They were able to score within the initial twenty seconds of the two-minute minor on a Mila Breczko goal, assisted by Hugo Lukacovic.
The Buffs went into the first intermission down by one goal, in need of a pep talk. The second-year CU head coach Trace Jablin kept it simple.
“Well we talk about discipline a lot… and in games like this, it's really tough, when the officials lose control of the game… [but] we just talk about focusing on what we can control,” Jablin said.
The second period started just as physical as the first with skaters being slammed into the boards and multiple trips that were not called by the referees. The officials' lenient whistle dictated the type of game this was going to be, a tough and physical one.
With about five minutes left in the second period, the Buffs had a golden opportunity to score off a Midland turnover at center ice. Charlie Sanmburg and Cam Bandoni raced down the ice with only the Warriors goalie in their sights. Just when the Buffs had a sliver of hope, Liam Tereposky, Midland's sophomore goalie, skated out of his net to shoot the puck away. Unfortunately for Tereposky, he was not able to clear the puck and on his way back into goal he fell on the ice, leaving the net wide open for Quinten Kinney. With no one in goal, Franceso Cecchetto made a spectacular play by putting his body on the line and diving onto the ice to block the shot.
On the very next change of possession, Zach Weber of the Warriors, broke away from the Colorado defense, forcing Alex Hartman to commit a penalty to help his keeper out. Since Hartman fouled Weber from behind, the officials awarded Midland with a penalty shot, which Weber buried.
The second period ended with Colorado on the powerplay, still trailing by two. If the Buffs wanted a chance to win this game, they had to play smarter and more disciplined, which had not been the case to that point.
Colorado star forward Rap Marcinkevicius found himself in the penalty box twice and thought it was more of a product of the reffing than of his playstyle.
“To be honest, a lot of those penalties were not fair," Marcinkevicius said. "I was in the box for a couple times that I didn’t know why.”
Although the players had the most influence on the outcome of the game, the officials impacted how the game was played.
The third period was much of the same for the Buffs. They drew three penalties in the period but were not able to take advantage of those opportunities. On the defensive side, they committed two more penalties and gave up their third goal of the night to seal the deal.
Despite the three-goal performance from Midland, Tereposky was the reason the Warriors took home the win. He had over twenty saves and aside from the slip on the ice in the second period, he played a flawless game, helping his team capture the first win of their season.
Colorado looks to bounce back from this game and get back on track to play the Buffaloes hockey they are used to. The Buffs have a short turnaround as they host these same Warriors at home again on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT. A live stream of the game will be on our YouTube channel at Sko Buffs Sports.
Cover photo by Cece Tecu/Sko Buffs Sports
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