Shots Heard Round the (CCHA) World
In a regular season stretch drive that has reached a feverish pitch, two events at St. Thomas—on consecutive days—dramatically shifted the balance of power in the CCHA.
On Friday came the sickening sight of an athlete in his prime cut down with a lower body injury. St. Thomas forward Cooper Gay, who was carrying the St. Thomas offense with a goal and two primary assists halfway through the third period vs Bowling Green, got tangled up in a goal-mouth scramble with Bowling Green’s Gustav Stjernberg. His skate caught underneath him as both players collapsed in a heap. It was confirmed Monday that Gay will not skate again this season.
Due to a rash of injuries, Rico Blasi has stitched together impromptu lineups since December, scrambling to put four lines on the ice the past eight weeks. He has yet to complain, offering up a version of the same “next man up” mantra used by every Division I team. But this one hurt. It hurt every fan who witnessed Gay exiting the ice on a stretcher, it hurt the UST staff that has seen Gay become indispensible for the Tommies offense (5-4-9 in his last 6 GP), and most of all, it hurts the Tommies chances to hoist a trophy this season. In a weekend series that was fought with the intensity of Greek mythology, Gay was carried off on his shield, the bloodied Hector.
Saturday’s seismic moment was on a happier note, at least from the Bowling Green perspective. It happened just over halfway through a contest that could have vaulted the Tommies into first place. Bowling Green was clinging to a 1-0 lead despite being outshot and out-chanced. Falcon freshman Ben Doran ripped a 100-foot, diagonal pass across the neutral zone directly onto Seth Fyten’s backhand. Fyten was flying down the left wing with too much speed for Tommies defender Chase Cheslock to close the gap.
Being a right shot on the left wing gave Fyten crucial degrees on his shooting angle; his blade saw twine on the far side. UST goalie Jake Sibell has a good glove hand, but not good enough. In a sport that usually requires a screen, a rebound or a deflection to score, Fyten did it the old-fashioned way, he beat the Richter semi-finalist cleanly: top-shelf, high cheese.
A 1-0 pitcher’s duel was now a 2-0 mountain, and Fyten’s goal held up to be the game-winner. Bowling Green is now one step closer to their version of the Impossible Dream, two points shy of first place with four games to play. The fact that Fyten scored the GWG is entirely fitting for the school’s fairytale finish: Fyten was one of the three players falsely suspended at the start of the season.
Another Five-Pack for the Beavers
This past weekend’s series between Ferris State and Bemidji represented classic “trap games” for the Beavers. Ferris was in last place, while in the next two series the Beavers will be playing top teams which will likely determine the MacNaughton Cup. No one would have been shocked if Bemidji overlooked the Bulldogs.
Ferris threatened in both games: sending Friday’s contest into overtime and grabbing the lead Saturday. Yet Bemidji prevailed both nights. According to coach Tom Serratore, the key to his club’s success, now and going forward, is their play down low.
“We call it our ground game,” Serratore said in Saturday’s post game. “You always want to establish your ground game. You’re going to possess the puck, you’re going to draw some penalties, you’re going to generate some offense.”
Not coincidentally, the Beavers scored a pair of goals in the second period Saturday, the stanza where their bench is next to the attacking blue line. “It helps being close to the bench,” Serratore said. “We get good line changes, the guys recognize that and we feed off each other.”
In a season in which parity rules, the Beavers flipped the script with 10 points out of 12 the last two weekends. Those points propelled them into first place. They are now essentially in the playoffs, playing for two major trophies and an NCAA title berth in the forthcoming weeks. “Ground game” hockey is the ideal recipe for the tasks at hand.
In addition, Bemidji is getting crucial contributions up and down the lineup, from freshmen as well as upperclassmen. Saturday’s tying goal came from rookie Rhys Chiddenton, one of several freshmen making the most of his opportunity.
“It was huge,” Chiddenton said. “All in all, we came together, and I think we’re becoming a pretty good family out there.”
Loose Biscuits
Nearly lost in the weekend games affecting the CCHA standings was Lake State freshman goalie Easton Hesse pitching his first career shutout against Augustana Friday after stifling Michigan Tech three weeks ago. As a fill-in for ailing veteran Ethan Langenegger, Hesse has put up some eye-popping numbers, albeit with a small sample size. In five career games he has a .974 save pct. and a 0.83 GAA . . . Bowling Green coach Ty Eigner is a huge Major League Baseball fan, and he found himself in a classic manager’s dilemma Friday night. His starting goalie Christian Stoever had just allowed his third goal of the evening early in the second period. He brought in a reliever, the tall right-hander Cole Moore. Moore proceeded to shut down the Tommies with one goal in five periods of play to close out the weekend, earning himself Goalie of the Week league honors. “It was a consensus decision,” Eigner said of the call to bring in Moore, referring to his bench assistants as well as goalie coach Dylan Schoen. Moore has been a rock for the Falcons in their improbably run to second place in the CCHA. “We do have a lot of trust in Cole,” Eigner said. “He’s earned it, he’s done a real nice job for us.” . . . With BGSU’s leading scorer Ryan O’Hara out with an injury for most of February, speedy sophomore Brett Pfoh has picked up the slack, scoring a goal in each of the last four games. . . For the second time in a month, a CCHA attacker has been awarded a goal without the puck entering the net. On Saturday, league Rookie of the Week Ben Doran was carrying the puck toward an empty net when he was tripped at center ice by the Tommies Luc Laylin. Because Doran was heading toward a sure goal, the officials credited him with the tally. Back on January 26, Lake State’s Tritt Dawson had a nearly identical scenario, cruising toward a certain score into an empty net when he was hauled down by Michigan Tech’s Marcus Pedersen. Same ruling, a goal credited to the fouled player despite the fact the puck never entered the net.