Random thoughts after a wild Friday night of the ECAC Hockey tournament.
— Why can’t Yale have a normal playoff game against a team from the Capital Region?
Two years ago, the Bulldogs had a memorable two-game series against Union at Messa Rink. Both games went overtime, with Yale winning both. But Game 2 was one for the record books. Five overtimes, 141 minutes, 35 seconds of hockey that started at 7 p.m. March 4 and ended at 1:10 a.m. March 5 when David Meckler scored a short-handed goal 1:35 into the fifth OT, giving Yale a 3-2 victory.
Two years later, Yale is facing another Capital Region team in the postseason. The Bulldogs hosted RPI, and the two teams made a run at playing into the morning.
Broc Little halted at 11:10 p.m. His goal at 5:40 of the third overtime gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 win over the Engineers at Ingalls Rink. The two teams play Game 2 tonight at 7. RPI needs a win to extend the series to Sunday.
The game took 105:40 to play. It is the longest game in RPI history, and the longest ever played at Ingalls. It is the eighth-longest game in NCAA men’s history.
There are some delicious ironies about this game and the one with Union two years ago.
Start the with the final score. The Yale goalie in both games was Alec Richards. He was busier in the Union game, making 57 saves. He stopped 27 RPI shots.
Richards is one of five Bulldogs who played in the five-overtime classic. The others are forwards Jean-Francois Boucher and David Germain, and defensemen Robert Page and Brennan Turner.
As I mentioned, the game ended at 11:10 p.m. That was two hours short of when the Yale-Union game ended.
— Up the road from Yale, Quinnipiac was in an overtime game of its own. It didn’t last as long as RPI-Yale, but it was sure crazy.
The Bobcats pulled out a 7-6 win over Brown in the opening game of the series. David Marshall scored at 11:58 of the first overtime to give Quinnipiac a win it should had in regulation.
Quinnipiac scored six times in the second period, including five in the first 4:53, and took a 6-3 lead into the third. The Bobcats, who lost the last six games of the regular season, appeared on their way to ending that.
But Brown is a resilient team. The Bears rallied for three goals, the last by Jeff Prough with five seconds left and goalie Mark Sibbald out for an extra attacker.
“We got up 5-1 and we just shut it down,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold told USCHO.com after the game. “We’ve done that a lot this year. We got leads, and we don’t have that killer instinct.”
It should be an interesting Game 2 tonight.
— Over in Ithaca, Raymond Sawada’s second goal of the game, a power-play tally with 6:14 left in the third period, gave Cornell a 3-2 win over Dartmouth at Lynah Rink.
Reading Ithaca Journal Cornell hockey beat writer Brandon Thomas’ postgame blog, Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet and his team weren’t available for comment after the game. Judging by the game summary, I bet Gaudet wasn’t happy with the officiating. His son, Joe, was called for tripping with 6:34 remaining in regulation. After Sawada’s goal, Dartmouth was assessed a bench minor, no doubt for unsportsmanlike conduct.
— In Hamilton, Colgate is on the brink of elimination.
Defenseman Zach Miskovic scored twice, and forward Brock McBride had three assists to lead St. Lawrence past Colgate, 5-2, at Starr Rink.
The most telling aspect of the game was in goal. St. Lawrence senior John Hallas, who had played in one game last season and six for his career prior to this season, outplayed Colgate senior Mark Dekanich, who set a league record for consecutive shutout minutes this season. Hallas made 30 saves. Dekanich gave up two goals, was pulled for 2:49 of the second period, and went back in and allowed two more before watching the third period from the bench.
It’s not looking good for the Raiders.
