WCHA Play-in Game: UM(3) v. SCSU(2)
Posted by: dane1st Period Notes
Large Gopher contingency at the X making their presence felt during introductions; weird.
Arena appears to be at about 90% capacity. Pretty good for a play-in game.
Goal – UM :35 into game; deflection by Lucia from a soft one-timer from the point. Catches SCSU sleeping. First shot of the game.
SCSU’s first shot hits the crossbar square and out.
Goal – SCSU on the powerplay @7:33, 4 on 3 situation, great give and go from Raboina to Lasch back to Raboina, slides it between Kangas’ five-hole.
Ref Darren Shepard appears to be injured, laymen’s opinion: groin injury. Will be interesting to see what happens if Shepard cannot continue.
2nd Period Notes
Goal – UM powerplay 5 on 3 at 4:35, garbage goal. Not much to say about how the goal came about – really just a scramble in front, SCSU’s Jase Weslosky failed to freeze the puck, and UM’s Evan Kaufman was rewarded. Ref Shepard gets the assist. Speaking of Shepard, it’s still pretty obvious that something is wrong. He isn’t usually known for his strong skating, but tonight’s worse than normal. Telltale sign #1: I’ve seen him clutching the boards on more than one occasion. Will keep you posted as story progresses.
UM’s Evan Kaufmann received a 2 minute penalty for “embellishment.” I love it.
Many a signs throughout the X wishing UM’s Tom Pohl the best. Who says college hockey fans don’t have hearts?
Thus far, play of the night goes to some kid playing in the mid-period youth scrimmage. He pull-dragged around a pair of defensemen and then beat the goalie stick side. The defensemen had to pick up their jockstraps from the ice … do 9 year olds wear jockstraps?
3rd Period Notes
19,232; a sellout. A record for play-in game. The real number is probably more around 17K and change, but still pretty impressive for a weeknight.
Goal – SCSU at 15:34; 2 on 1 for St. Cloud on a close offside call (could have gone either way), ref calls the play good and SCSU makes good on its good fortune. Tommy Mosey scores off a great centered feed from Ryan Lasch (all this kid does is score points). Talk about taking the wind out of the sails of the UM fans here at the X. Wowzers, literally seconds after the goal, SCSU called for goaltender interference – this has the makings for a nail biter
12.7 seconds left and the UM strikes gold. Mike Howe scores off a shot from the point that deflects off the back boards and onto his stick. With Weslosky out of position (he had to face up the initial shot), Howe slides the puck into an open net. I can barley hear myself think in here it’s so loud. Timeout SCSU. Goalie pulled, no use, UM wins.
