BOULDER – The Buffaloes Division I men’s hockey team is still fighting for a spot in the ACHA national tournament in St. Louis this year. They need to jump about three or four teams to make it into the big dance.
Last year, it felt like Colorado either won both games or lost both games with one or two split weekends. This year, it feels like they are always splitting regardless of the opponent. This has stifled their progress into being in a nationals spot. Winning this game was imperative.
The game started similarly to the first: physical. When Jack Ferguson took a penalty for interference, CU fought hard to force ASU to take a penalty and Caden Butler hooked Buffs captain Marc Borghi on a shorthanded breakaway. During the 4-on-4 session, Max Pasiennik grabbed the puck in his defensive zone, shot the puck on new Arizona State goaltender Cody Creasy, and beat his stick side to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.
With about three and a half left in the first, ASU’s Conner Tilmon grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and shot one through the legs of CU defender Camden Crawford, and new goaltender Liam O’Gwen failed to track down the puck, beating him glove side to tie the game at one a piece.
Shortly after, Buffs defender Luke Gosnell left the puck behind his own net for assistant captain Adam Trunko, who was playing in his 100th game on Saturday, racing up the boards and trying to pass it back to Borghi. The puck found the stick of Caleb Gold and he shot one on goal. The rebound was picked by Trunko who backhanded a shot past Creasy to give the Buffaloes a 2-1 lead. Trunko did his best Bobby Orr impression after being tripped up and dabbed on the ice in celebration, mixing old celebrations with new ones.
Colorado would have a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period, putting the Buffs in a good position to strengthen their hold on this game.
The second period was a physical one with no goals scored. There were plenty of big penalties assessed as tempers started to boil over. Several fights nearly broke out as two ASU players served double minor time and CU’s Blake Blevins was given a game misconduct for a face mask grab after a play. Blevins would have to leave the game, and Gold, who has played defense for most of the season, had to step in and replace Blevins on the fourth line.
Still 2-1 Colorado entering the third period, Arizona State had an early power play due to the Blevins penalty overlapping into the third. After that had expired, Alex Hartman took a tripping penalty to put ASU back on the powerplay. After nearly killing off yet another penalty, Tilmon was able to tip a shot from Logan Lee and beat O’Gwen for a powerplay goal that equalized the game at 2.
The game had become tied again, and now the Buffaloes will need to score again to try and put this one away. Tension was beginning to rise at the CU rec center as time slowly ticked away. With under nine and a half to play, ASU's Butler found a loose puck and fired a shot from the point that was cleanly blocked by the Buffaloes’ Max Pasiennik. Pasiennik was in a race with ASU defender Lee to grab the puck. Pasiennik beat out Lee, had a breakaway look on Creasy, and deked around him for his second goal of the game and more importantly, another Buffalo lead.
Colorado had stolen away the lead again and desperately tried to kill the clock and finish the sweep. Creasy was pulled by ASU head coach Austin Cline with just over two minutes to go. Pasiennik nearly finished off the hat trick with an empty net goal, but a redirection off the stick of the Sun Devils’ Ty Marchant prevented that outcome. Borghi also had a chance to finish the game but could not do so.
Hanging on for dear life and with only 20 seconds to play, Arizona State wins a neutral zone faceoff and scrambles to set up a play. Ty Marchant with just 10 seconds left shot one from the point and it squeaked by O’Gwen’s glove side. The game was tied at three and headed for overtime.
In the extra session, ASU had the better opportunities, but O’Gwen rebounded after letting in the tying goal by shutting the door on the four Arizona State shots. The Buffaloes tried throughout the extra five minutes to win the game but could not muster a shot on Creasy. As time expired in overtime, this game was destined for a shootout.
Drew McConaughy had the first shot in the shootout and shot one past Creasy’s glove side for a quick 1-0 lead in the shootout. Butler tried the same thing on O’Gwen and was stopped. Trunko tried to beat Creasy with a backhander and missed the net. Tilmon, who had beaten O’Gwen twice in this game already, did so a third time to square the shootout at 1-1. Borghi, the next shooter, had his shot stopped by the pad of Creasy. The game was on the stick of Wyatt Palmer of Arizona State. He slowly moved in on O’Gwen and tried to wrap it around him but lost control of the puck and missed the net. An extra shootout round would be needed to decide this contest.
The first shooter of the four round, was Rapolas Marcinkevicius, who had scored two goals on Friday, his shot one stick side and squeezed the puck through the gap in between Creasy’s arm and chest and scored to give the Buffaloes the advantage.
The game now rested on the stick of Ryan Robinson, a player who had been playing well for ASU all year long. He moved on O’Gwen and tried to beat him stick side, but O’Gwen shut the door and clinched the win for Colorado 4-3 in a shootout.
“It’s almost like we broke a curse and won both this weekend,” said O’Gwen after the win.
This was the first time Colorado had won both games in a given weekend since their first series of the year at home against San Diego State.
The attention now shifts to the biggest weekend of the season. Not only is the team still fighting for nationals, but they are going to be playing their biggest rivals: Colorado State. CSU is ranked at No. 30 and is effectively out of the nationals race. They now try to play spoiler on the Buffaloes next weekend.
“In those games, for whatever reason, anything can happen in those games. We’ve seen it all,” O’Gwen stated.
The Buffs will still need to jump a few teams to get a bid to nationals. But with breaking the curse and winning both games against Arizona State, the Buffaloes have a chance to steal a bid and go to St. Louis.
You can catch the Rocky Mountain Faceoff live on the Sko Buffs Sports YouTube channel.
Cover photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports
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