By Ryan Stieg
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The last time the St. Thomas men’s hockey team played at home, it played its best game of the season and earned a hard-fought win over St. Cloud State.
Friday night’s performance against Bowling Green was far from that. The Tommies struggled through most of the game and didn’t come together until the final four minutes of the third period.
Down 2-0, the Tommies got goals from captain Lucas Wahlin and Alex Gaffney to tie the game and force overtime. However, the Falcons got a goal from Ben Doran in the extra session to notch a 3-2 victory and earn the extra point in the CCHA standings.
Even though UST fought back and pushed the game into OT, Tommies head coach Rico Blasi wasn’t pleased with his squad.
“I thought they outplayed us for two periods,” he said. “I thought we had a really good push in the third period, and we obviously tied it up. I think that sums it up really. We had our chances on the power play, and we weren’t sharp. That game could’ve been a lot different had we been ready to go. But I give them (the Falcons) credit. They did a lot of really good things. They played hard, they played above pucks, they won battles in the first two periods and we didn’t.”
With the point against the Falcons, the Tommies have now gotten at least one point in their last three CCHA games, but that’s not good enough in Wahlin’s eyes.
“We’re not getting enough points,” he said. “We have high expectations for ourselves and for each other. I think we need to hold each other to a higher standard. What Rico has been preaching to us is we’ve got to figure out our starts. Our starts haven’t been good enough and obviously, it’s been showing.”
Both teams had some quality scoring chances in the first period. BG’s best opportunity came at the 8:17 mark. After Tommies goalie Aaron Trotter denied the Falcons’ Max Martin, he slid over and stopped a shot by Brayden Crampton. The freshman defenseman then tried to flip in the rebound, but Trotter made a flashy glove save to keep the game 0-0.
UST’s best chance came on the power play with just over four minutes remaining. Nick Williams had a good shot, but BG netminder Jacob Steinman kicked the puck away. However, the puck went to a waiting Ryan O’Neill, who snapped a shot on net, but Steinman made a sprawling blocker save to rob the senior forward.
During the second period, the Tommies tried to put a little more pressure on Steinman, but the freshman stood tall. UST also came up empty on two power plays in the period, and the Falcons PK unit looked strong throughout the night.
At 14:24, Falcons forward Dominik Rymon broke the deadlock. The current CCHA Rookie of the Week tapped a loose puck in the low slot past Trotter, and it was 1-0 BG. The Tommies challenged the goal for offsides, but the goal was upheld and UST was handed a delay of game penalty.
On the ensuing BG power play, the Falcons struck again at 16:10 when senior Quinn Emerson tipped a Dalton Norris point shot past Trotter, and it was 2-0 heading into the third.
With time running out in the third, the Tommies finally solved Steinman at 16:06. After Steinman stopped a shot by Gaffney, Wahlin tapped in the rebound to cut the deficit to 2-1. Later, with Trotter pulled for the extra attacker, Lucas Van Vliet sent a shot on net that was saved by Steinman, but Gaffney snuck the rebound past him to tie it at 2-2 and force overtime.