BOULDER – The Division I Colorado men’s hockey team had their season officially ended after falling one spot short of the ACHA national tournament. But they still had games that were scheduled after nationals bids went out.
Their first was at home against Oregon.
The Ducks had come off a beating against UNLV, losing 12-0 and 6-0 in their two games in Las Vegas. UO was also ranked at No. 61 out of 72 schools going into the weekend.
Due to the timing of this match, both teams fielded unusual lineups. Colorado played several players who had not seen much ice time. Most notably in goal with Caiden Boucher making his second start of the season and first in front of the fans at the CU Rec Center.
On the other side, Oregon started a goaltender in George Serbin who had not played a game for the Ducks this season. So not only were some skaters who had not seen much ice time getting that time, but it was going to be an important night for the goaltenders who wanted to make a good impression for next season.
Colorado had shifted their lines greatly to test the waters for what fans could be seeing next season as players like Josh Genin and Garret Micciche take forward roles with dynamic players like Adam Trunko and Marc Borghi graduating. On the defensive side, Grant Robinson was the only player on the team who had not played in a game all season up to this point but had been given the nod by head coach Trace Jablin, along with Aidan Hebel, who had played only one game all season prior to Friday.
With new faces in the lineup for the Buffaloes, the puck was dropped at the CU Rec Center. In the first couple of minutes, Oregon took a shot on Boucher and he made the stop but was caught out of position. Connor Hacker banged home the loose puck for Oregon, giving the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
Colorado would get the first powerplay of the night and fail to score, but after getting another one shortly after, Max Pasiennik buried a shot past Serbin to tie the game at one just five seconds into the man advantage. Jack Ferguson took a hooking penalty before the first period ended to give Oregon a split powerplay between the first and second.
Colorado was able to kill off the split penalty but shortly after, Nicholas Slayton of Oregon was able to find a loose puck in the slot and fire it by Boucher and give UO a 2-1 lead.
Play continued with little trouble until the nine-minute mark when Micciche grabbed a puck in the attacking zone and had the puck poked away before trying a backhander. Jacob Rosolanko desperately tried to poke it back to Micciche and with Micciche sitting at the backdoor, he regained possession and tucked behind Serbin to tie the game back up.
The rest of the second period came and went after Micciche tied the game with his first goal of the season, leaving the score tied at two at the end of two. At this point in the game, the goaltenders had both been making some big saves, keeping their respective teams in the game despite the limited playtime throughout the season.
In the first five minutes of the third, in the attacking zone, Rosolanko slid into the boards, leaving Brodie Pearson to retrieve the puck for CU. He instead forced the Oregon defender away from the puck, leaving room for Rosolanko to steal the puck and try to wrap it around Serbin. Serbin shut the door, but after a couple of whacks, Rosolanko by brute force sent the puck across the goal line to hand the Buffs their first lead of the night.
After Rosolanko’s first goal on home ice this season, the penalties started to rack up. CU would get two powerplay opportunities to increase their lead but they were fought off by the Ducks penalty kill. Oregon would then get their opportunity to tie the game in the final five minutes as the Buffaloes took a too-many-men penalty. Oregon had limited opportunities on the powerplay and it was killed off by Colorado.
With just about 30 seconds to play and the net empty for Oregon, Caleb Gold laid out Charlie Maher right by the CU bench. Gold was penalized, but Maher retaliated by trying to punch Gold after opposing the hit. After the retaliation, Gold’s defensive partner, Luke Gosnell, swooped in to defend his teammate and fellow senior by sticking it to Maher. This triggered a fight at the Rec as Gosnell got into it with Tobin Fix of Oregon, Gosnell taking down Fix and an official in the process. Those two were sent out of the game but not suspended as things died down and Oregon still had a job to do.
Off the faceoff, Colorado possessed the puck and Pasiennik was able to do enough to move around a defender and bury the empty netter to seal the win for Colorado, 4-2.
A gritty win with new faces, the Buffs won the first game of this double header heading into Saturday with confidence for a senior night victory. They got two goals from their leading goal scorer and two more from depth pieces that have made an impact at the tail end of the season. A perfect balance of old and new.
The Buffs have one home game to go and families are in town for the event. Their goal is simple, send the seniors off into the sunset with a win versus the Ducks.
All Colorado club hockey games are broadcast live on the Sko Buffs Sports YouTube channel.
Cover photo by Remi Krupinski/Sko Buffs Sports
Comments