- Image by thetorpedodog via Flickr
There was a lot of Cinderella talk going into this game.
RIT had won ten consecutive games, including the Atlantic Conference Championship. Despite playing in an inferior Conference to the Pioneers’ WCHA, the Tigers had shown an impressively balanced team effort in the final month of the season. That kind of balance is what you want going into the NCAA Tournament.
Denver’s story couldn’t have been more different, as they dominated throughout the meaty middle of their regular season schedule. The Pioneers went into the postseason as a favorite to win the WCHA Title, but their collapse in the Final Five made them look vulnerable to a disciplined, hard-working team like the Tigers.
So, when RIT scored the first goal of the game on an even-strength screened shot to the right of Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie, it looked like the upset was on. The Tigers spent the rest of the 1st Period stifling Denver with great rotating defense. That responsible team D had the favored Pioneers frustrated going into the locker room.
A different Denver team came out in the 2nd Period.
Throughout the period, the Pioneers built up some considerable momentum. They pressed their defensemen into the offensive zone, buzzed around the net, moved the puck with authority, and created consistent scoring chances as a result. RIT netminder Jared Demichiel made 15 mostly amazing saves in the period to maintain the 1-0 advantage for the Tigers.
Even with the expected transformation by the Pioneers from playing on their heels to bringing the fight right to the RIT doorstep, Denver still looked nervous. In particular, DU goalie Marc Cheverie looked flustered whenever the Tigers eventually broke free from the Pioneers’ puck control long enough to generate a rush into the Denver zone. Cheverie’s issues in the WCHA Tournament clearly did not get solved in the down time between the Pioneers’ losses in the Final Five and the beginning of the NCAA Tournament.
Denver players also killed a lot of their own advantages with curious or downright poor decisions in open ice. The Pioneers’ top line played a lot in the 2nd and put the Fear into the Tiger D in that time, but Coach George Gwozdecky certainly had some choice words for his 2nd & 3rd line forwards during the second Intermission.
The Pioneers came out hard and sure in the 3rd Period.
Rhett Rakhshani was tripped twice in the first two minutes of the period, and the second trip elicited a penalty on RIT. Denver buzzed and controlled the puck throughout the Power Play, but couldn’t connect on a number of finishing passes that would have been outstanding scoring chances.
The Pioneers kept the momentum, maintained the pressure, and gave up regular odd-man rushes to the Tigers as a result. RIT’s best even-strength chance came on a 2 on 0 that turned into a 2 on ½ through the latter half of the Colorado zone, but a cross-ice pass turned into a shot high of a wide open net. The Pioneers were saved for the moment.
Then the referees took control of the game.
The Pioneers’ Jesse Martin was called for an open-ice shoulder-to-shoulder hit. Replays clearly showed a clean hit, but Martin went to the box on a phantom Elbowing call. The Tigers scored a minute into the unearned 2:00 Power Play.
Realizing they’d changed the course of the game, the referees called a make-up Holding the Stick penalty on RIT. The Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard when Joe Colborne stuffed a rebound past Demichiel on the resulting Power Play.
But the damage had been done, and the refs were unwilling to affect the game again. Even when Rakhshani was hauled down behind the Tigers’ net with 2:25 to play, not a sound could be heard save the voracious cheers of the RIT faithful clogging the Albany, NY arena. The zebras had swallowed their whistles.
Gwozdecky got aggressive with 1:40 left, pulling goaltender Cheverie to the bench.
The Pioneers held control, and managed to elicit a goaltender freeze deep in the RIT zone with 1:10 remaining. That put the faceoff to the right of Demichiel, and DU called its timeout to draw up a play.  That play, off a DU faceoff win, turned into a Rakhshani charge to the front of the net and a desperation clear by RIT. The Tigers were called for icing and the puck came right back into the RIT zone for another faceoff.
The cycle of faceoffs continued with Icings and goalie freezes taking a few seconds off the clock at a time. The final faceoff came with 18 seconds left, and RIT was able to keep the play to the boards for a runoff and the win.
