The Colorado Buffaloes faced off against the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos at the CU Recreational Center on Friday night.
Last season, these teams played each other four times with the Bronchos sweeping the Buffs on their way to the first-place spot in the Western Collegiate Hockey League.
This year, the Buffs were eager to flip the script.
In the opening ten minutes of the game, both teams were playing fast and had multiple scoring opportunities. The Bronchos drew first blood as defenseman Adam Stalzer scored on a breakaway. Stalzer got a lucky deflection off the stick of CU’s Alex Hartman and was able to bury it in the top left corner past goaltender Liam O’Gwen.
Just a couple minutes after the Bronchos' goal, the Buffaloes knotted the score at one apiece. The goal was set up by a Rap Marcinkevicius blocked shot that was rebounded by Kaid Nieslanik and put past UCO’s goaltender, Camden Pendleton.
In the final seconds of the first period, the Bronchos had three shots blocked by O’Gwen to keep the game tied at one going into intermission. O’Gwen was humble about his performance.
“I just try to do my job. I can’t do anything else, but try to save the puck and control the game,” O’Gwen said.
The Buffs came out of the intermission and looked like a completely different team. Within the first minute and a half of the second period, Brodie Pearson wrapped around the back of the net and shoved the puck past Pendleton’s right shoulder.
At the halfway mark of the game, the Buffs scored a beautiful goal that put them up 3-1. The play started with a Dougie Wood touch pass, centered to Pearson, who pushed it out into space for Drew McConaughy with an open look. McConaughy did not fold under pressure as he fired a rocket right by Pendleton into the back of the net.
The Buffs went on to score one more goal in the second period, giving themselves a 4-1 lead going into the last 20 minutes.
The third period started with four-on-four hockey, which benefited the Bronchos who desperately needed a score.
The Bronchos were not able to score on that penalty but did, however, score a couple of minutes later, in the last two seconds of a power play.
The Buffs and Bronchos went on to score one more goal each in the final period, leaving the final score in Colorado’s favor at 5-3.
All five of the goals scored by the black and gold were from different players, truly showing how explosive their offense can be.
Despite the onslaught of scoring, none of their goals came from the power play, which has been a pattern for the Buffs early in the season.
Head coach Trace Jablin is confident they will pick it up as the season continues.
“Although we didn't score, I thought our power play was getting some really good looks,” Jablin said. “It’s gonna happen once you get that first (one) on your power play, I think the floodgates are going to open.”
These two teams face off again Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT, where the Buffs will look to do the sweeping, this time around. The game will be broadcast on our YouTube channel at Sko Buffs Sports.
Cover Photo by Tyler Phillips/Sko Buffs Sports.
Comments