ST. PAUL, Minn. - On a day that is
supposed to favor those in green, this St. Patrick's Day good fortune was
reserved for those in black and gold as Colorado College downed Alaska
Anchorage 4-2 Thursday night in quarterfinal action of the 2011 Red Baron WCHA
Final Five here at the Xcel Energy Center.
The loss ended a five-game winning
streak for sixth-year Head Coach Dave Shyiak's Seawolves, which finished the
season with a 16-18-3 record - UAA's best since the 1992-93 season. UAA
went 12-14-2 in regular season WCHA play - second best since joining the league
in 1993-94. The Tigers improved to 22-17-3 and will meet No. 1-seed North
Dakota in Friday's late semifinal game.
Friday's other semifinal game will
feature No. 6 seed Bemidji State vs No. 2 seed Denver. Bemidji upset No. 3 seed
Minnesota Duluth, 3-2 in overtime, in Thursday's early quarterfinal.
Thursday's CC-UAA matchup was their
sixth meeting of the season, which saw both teams win three.
The Seawolves, which outshot the
Tigers 23-16 for the game, owned territorial and shots on goal advantages early
on, but found themselves in a 3-0 hole by early in the second period.
"It doesn't sit well. It doesn't
feel right. I thought the guys did everything we asked," said Coach
Shyiak. "They got some puck luck goals early and that's just the nature of
the game. I can't take anything away from [our] guys - it just wasn't in the
cards tonight. I'm proud of the way we played. I thought we played well enough
to win, but it just wasn't there."
CC went up 1-0 at 7:30 of the first
period on a power play goal by William Rapuzzi, who stuffed home a deflected
puck. Dakota Eveland and Gabe Guentzel were credited with assists. Tim
Hall put the Tigers up 2-0 at 16:30 of the first after gathering in another
deflection and beating a screened Kamal. Rapuzzi and Ryan Lowery assisted on
the goal.
CC went up 3-0 at 4:39 of the second
after a wide shot by Joe Marciano from the point went off the back of UAA's
Craig Parkinson and into the net. Coach Shyiak opted to call timeout and
replace Seawolf starting goalie Chris Kamal with fellow freshman netminder Rob
Gunderson.
"[I did it] just to shake it up.
Chris [Kamal] did great," said Coach Shyiak. "Obviously he strung
five [wins] together. It wasn't at all his fault and it wasn't anybody's
fault."
The move appeared to jump start the
Seawolves as Mickey Spencer tipped in a Quinn Sproule drive from the point at
14:57 of the second to make it 3-1. Alex Gellert assisted on the goal as UAA
was finally rewarded for its hard work. The goal came just seconds after a
penalty on CC's Guentzel had expired.
The Tigers' Marciano made it 4-1 as
his shot from the point found net with just 18 seconds left in the second.
Schultz and Schwartz assisted on the goal for CC.
The Seawolves had some high quality
scoring chances in the third period, including some a 5-on-3 power play, but
were unable to cash in until Luka Vidmar's shorthander at 18:59 of the third on
assists from Brad Gorham and Jade Portwood.
The contest was the final game for
five seniors - forwards Tommy Grant, Craig Parkinson, Sean Wiles and Nick
Haddad along with defenseman Vidmar.
Said Parkinson: "It was a great
season. There are a lot of good guys in that dressing room and I wish I
was coming back...getting to the Final Five is a big deal. [The program] is
going in the right direction."
UAA netminder, Kamal, which had his
personal five-game win streak halted, had four saves and saw his record slip to
9-5-1. Gunderson had eight saves in relief. CC's Joe Howe had 21 saves in
picking up the win in goal for the Tigers.
The Seawolves were 0-for-6 on the
power play while the Tigers went 1-for-5.
