By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – For the second straight weekend, the St. Thomas men’s hockey team played a Friday game where it held a lead in the third period and then things slipped away.
This time, the Tommies had a 2-1 advantage, but then defenseman Jake Ratzlaff was handed a questionable major penalty and Bowling Green tied the game on the resulting power play to force overtime, which eventually led to a 2-2 tie. The Falcons then picked up the extra point in the CCHA standings by winning the shootout. UST, on the other hand, remains winless in shootouts during their four seasons at the Division I level.
“I thought we played a decent game, good start again,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “Obviously, an ill-advised penalty there in the third period that led to their tying goal. Both teams had chances in overtime. We’ve got to keep getting better at managing the puck and managing the game.”
The first period was a physical one as both teams spent some time in the penalty box. UST got on the scoreboard first as Matthew Gleason cleaned up the trash in front of the net and tapped a rebound past Falcons goalie Cole Moore at the 3:30 mark to make it 1-0.
“You can call it a garbage goal, but that’s a hard-working goal with Cooper taking the puck to the net and Casy (Laylin) working hard out front and Gleas going to the net,” Blasi said.
UST appeared to be in reasonable control for the first period, but then a penalty on a breakaway led to a Falcons penalty shot and BG’s Brett Pfoh cashed in on his opportunity, beating Tommies goalie Jake Sibell to the far post to tie things at 1-1 heading into the second.
The Tommies struck again less than a minute into the next period on a nice play by Cooper Gay. With a BG penalty about to expire, Gay tipped a Chase Foley shot from the point past Moore to put UST back up at 2-1.
“That’s why he (Gay) plays that spot on the power play,” Blasi said. “He’s good at it. A good shot by Foles and good movement by our power play.”
The remainder of the second period was fairly quiet as both teams weren’t able to score on their respective power plays and both goalies made saves when they had to. As a result, it was 2-1 UST at the start of the third.
Unlike the second period, the third was quite eventful. BG almost tied the game at the 2:30 mark, but Sibell stretched out to rob Jaden Grant. The netminder then came up big again about a minute later when he denied the Falcons’ Seth Fyten on a shorthanded attempt.
During a 4 on 4, UST almost picked up its third goal as Gleason fed a trailing Carson Peters, but his shot was saved by Moore. Later, while the Tommies were trying to kill off the remainder of the Ratzlaff penalty, the Falcons tied the game at 2-2 as Breck McKinley snapped a shot through traffic and past Sibell at the 11:18 mark.
Sibell made one last nice save for the Tommies at 17:19 as he stuffed Ryan O’Hara on a breakaway to keep the game tied and force overtime.
The two teams tangle again tonight and Blasi emphasized that puck management will be the big key for the Tommies to get back in the win column.
“That’s the big key going into any game,” he said. “If you don’t manage the puck and manage the game, then you give teams an opportunity to come back on you. They’re a good hockey team and they skate really well and they’re going to come after you. So, you have to manage the game the right way.”