The quarterfinal round in the East provided incredible action on Saturday night inclusive of Utica exorcising some past Round of 8 demons with their win over Plymouth State as well as a four overtime thriller that saw Hobart down Curry, 4-3 after more than 135 minutes of game action. Trinity also was a winner meaning they play in their first Frozen Four since the 2016-17 season and get to compete on their home ice. Lots to cover and unpack as the seeded teams took care of business on home ice to set-up some juicy matchups on Thursday in Hartford. Here is the recap of the action in the East:
NCAA Quarterfinal Round
(12) Curry v. (1) Hobart
Well, let’s just start with WOW! What a hockey game! Almost seven full periods of play were needed to decide a winner in a 4-3 4 OT contest that is the second longest played in D-III at more than 135 minutes. First-year goaltender Shane Soderwall was immense in goal for the Colonels as he tied the NCAA record with 98 saves in the game while first-year defenseman Bauer Morrissey (talk about a hockey name) helped Hobart to their 37th consecutive home win, breaking St. Norbert’s streak of 36, with his overtime wrister that eluded Soderwall on the glove side and sent the Statesmen to the Frozen Four.
It was Curry who drew first blood as Killian Rowlee gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first period. Gage Dill extended the advantage to 2-0 and things were looking up for the upstart Colonels. Late in the period, Tanner Daniels netted Hobart’s first goal making it a one-goal contest entering the third period.
Just under two minutes into the third period, Chris Duclair found the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2 and Hobart took the lead on Jonah Alexander’s goal just a couple of minutes later. Late in the third period, Tao Ishizuka scored yet another big goal for the Colonels tying the score at 3-3 with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation but neither team could find the winning tally and overtime was needed to decide the contest.
Hobart owned the statistical battle including winning 116 of 162 face-offs and outshooting the Colonels by a 102-47 margin but couldn’t solve Soderwall until late in the fourth overtime when Morrissey produced the game-winning goal. Taking the puck at the left point, the left shooting defenseman walked the line to the right before letting go a high wrist shot that beat Soderwall on the glove slide and was engulfed by joyous teammates at center ice. Goaltender Damon Beaver made 44 saves to earn the win in goal for Hobart.
“Well, it starts with a face-off win,” said Morrissey. “I don’t know I kinda just blacked out. I knew I could bait one them – we had a good screen in front and I just hoped for the best.”
With the win Hobart returns to defend their national title in Hartford and will face Utica University in one semifinal on Thursday afternoon.
(9) Plymouth State v. (2) Utica
The Panthers came in looking to extend their NCAA win streak to two games against a Utica team looking to move away from recent past history and advance to the Frozen Four. For the Pioneers the start was key and while the usual feeling out process opened the contest, the home team struck for the first period’s only goal as Jakob Breault beat Panther netminder Kalle Andersson.
In the second period, John Carroll scored the first of his two goals on the power play to pad the lead to 2-0 and the Pioneers were looking solid in front of netminder Ethan Roberts. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Colin Tracy cut the lead in half with a goal for PSU but the momentum was short lived as less than three minutes later Andrew Della Rovere gave Utica their two-goal lead back at 3-1 to close the second period.
The third period saw Utica hold Plymouth State to limited good chances and Carroll iced the contest with his goal at 6:40 of the period to extend the lead to 4-1. PSU outshot Utica 14-7 in the final period but Roberts stopped everything that came his way on the way to 34 saves for the game and the 4-1 win for Utica who advanced to the Frozen Four.
Utica will play defending champion Hobart in one semifinal on Thursday afternoon in Hartford.
(10) Elmira v. (3) Trinity
Trinity hosted Elmira looking to punch their ticket to the Frozen Four and extend their season for another week in their home building where the frozen Four is being hosted. The Bantams have had a successful recipe of transition offense, great team defense and superb goaltending all season and each was featured prominently in a 2-0 win over the Soaring Eagles on Saturday.
The first period saw all the offense either team would produce in the game starting with Alexander Mozian’s power play goal at 7:42 to give the Bantams a 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later James Barbour and Connor Sedlak made the key passes for Gerard Marretta to stuff the puck under netminder Kyle Curtin for a 2-0 lead that would end up being the final score.
Goaltender Devon Bobak was outstanding in goal for Trinity stopping all 35 shots he faced and keeping the Soaring Eagles 0-for-3 on the power play in the game. The shutout was his seventh of the season.
With the win Trinity advances to the Frozen Four where they will play Adrian in the second semifinal on Thursday evening.
Just two semifinal games on Thursday and the national championship game on Saturday remain to be battled for by the top four teams in the country. You couldn’t script or ask for a better finale to the season than to have the best teams playing to win it all.
Thanks to Russell Jaslow for coverage of the Curry v. Hobart game.
