By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — The first time St. Thomas and Ferris State battled this season, it was an offensive explosion with the teams combining for 15 goals and it looked as if that might happen again after a wild first period Friday.
However, the Tommies locked down defensively in the second and third periods and added a couple insurance goals to earn a 7-3 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-3 CCHA Quarterfinals.
“We did a nice job in the second and the third,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “As I said in the presser earlier in the week, their transition game is Top 20 in the country and their numbers prove it. Their early goals were exactly that. We had to do a better job and we did in the second and the third and we got the job done.”
In a first period eerily similar to the one during the first battle in January, the two teams combined for seven goals. The Bulldogs struck first on a goal by Jack Silich at the 1:31 mark, but UST’s Liam Malmquist answered back with his 14th goal of the season at 5:47 to tie it at 1-1. Malmquist caught a chip from Ethan Gauer out of midair at the Ferris blue line, skated in and wristed a shot past Ferris goalie Noah West. Just 12 seconds later, the Tommies grabbed their first lead on a goal by Jake Braccini and it was 2-1. After West denied UST’s Ryan O’Neill’s shot, Braccini snapped the rebound into the open net.
Ferris kept coming though. Four minutes after the Braccini goal, Ferris’ Zach Faremouth tied the score again at 2-2. However, at 14:57, Malmquist netted his second goal of the game as he backhanded a loose puck into an open net to put the Tommies back up. At 18:16, the Bulldogs knotted the game again, this time on a power play tally by Logan Heroux. With 49 seconds to play in the period, UST’s Quinton Pepper picked up his first goal of the season on a wraparound and it was 4-3 Tommies heading into the second.
“Going into the weekend, we thought it was going to be a high scoring game,” Faremouth said. “We knew we would have to score. Playing at this rink, I don’t know what it is, but it seems like a lot of goals usually go in. So tomorrow we’ve got to come ready.”
“When you come in here, everyone scores a lot in this rink,” Silich added. “We’ve got to be the first ones to do it and the last ones to do it as well to win this game.”
Compared to the goal-filled first period, the second was more of a defensive affair. However, there were some nice scoring chances. The Bulldogs had their best chance of the period to tie the game with a little over 12 minutes left, but Jacob Badal’s shot was gloved by Tommies goalie Jake Sibell. Later in the period at 15:56, Tommies captain Lucas Wahlin beat a Ferris player to a puck near the Bulldogs blue line and beat West for a shorthanded goal. UST then skated into the period break up 5-3.
“Who knows what was going on in the first (period) for maybe both sides, but I think we were able to loosen up in the room a little bit and build on the confidence that we had to score some goals and really lock in defensively,” Malmquist said. “I think everybody was dialed in and Sibes played really well as well.”
The Tommies almost padded their lead to three goals early in the third, but O’Neill’s shot rang off the post and out. Three minutes later, the Bulldogs almost cut their deficit to one as Sibell fell down trying to gather the puck behind the net, but Gavin Best’s shot was blocked and it stayed 5-3.
With 10:38 remaining, Sibell made a nice sliding toe save to rob Ferris’ Cole Burtsch of a goal and a minute later, the Tommies scored at the other end as Cooper Gay collected his own rebound and tapped it past West to make it 6-3. At 14:05, Gay netted his second goal of the night as he collected a loose puck by the left boards, skated in hard and beat West blocker side to push the lead to 7-3 and cap off the win.
“I thought the Tommies played great today,” Bulldogs head coach Bob Daniels said. “I thought they played hungry and they were hot on pucks. The first period, it reminded me of the first period when we played in January, it was a shootout and I thought that would never happen again. Then I thought ‘Oh my God, it’s happening again.” And then probably the one that really hurt was the shorthanded goal late in the second. I think it was 4-3 at that point and then they stretched it to 5-3 and I thought that was probably the one that really gave us the heartburn. Then from there in the third, we’re really pressing to score and get on the board and at times, leave ourselves vulnerable to a counterattack.”