The top four seeds finally got to host the quarterfinal round this past weekend. While Hobart traveled west to face the No. 1 seed from Adrian, No. 2 Geneseo and No. 3 Utica hosted Babson and the University of New England respectively in two exciting contests that determined half of the Frozen Four field headed to Lake Placid. My peer from the west, Brian Lester will recap the weekend battles for the other half of the bracket but here is the wrap-up from the east:
University of New England (8) v. Utica (2)
At this point of the season all the teams are here for the fact they play good hockey. That said UNE faced a massive task in facing the No. 2 seed from Utica in a Saturday matinee. The first period was scoreless with both netminders playing solidly with some good chances for both teams. In the second period, the game remained scoreless until Utica went on the power play at 11:55 on a holding call to UNE’s Chad Merrell. The scoring would come shorthanded for the visitors as Aaron Aragon sprung Daniel Winslow on a breakaway, and he beat Sean Dickson through the five-hole for a 1-0 lead that stood through the end of the period. The Pioneers created some momentum in the final two minutes of the middle frame and that carried over to the third period as they continued to have chances that Girard denied. Two more power play opportunities were killed by a smothering Nor’easter penalty kill and Dickson was pulled in the final minute to use the extra-attacker in search of the tying goal. Again, it was Aragon who made the critical play, getting the puck to Tyler Seltenreich who buried the empty-net goal for a 2-0 lead with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Girard was at his best in the final period stopping 20 of his 38 saves as the Pioneers outshot UNE 20-7 for the period and 38-16 for the game. With the victory, UNE moves on to its first ever Frozen Four.
“Obviously it is a pretty special moment for our team,” said UNE head coach Kevin Swallow. “It’s the first time we are headed to the Frozen Four in our program’s history. The last two NCAA tournaments weren’t held because of COVID. The first time we made the tournament we lost in the first round, the second time we made the Elite 8 and this time to the Frozen Four. We are really excited to Lake Placid and play next weekend and these guys [Daniel Winslow and Billy Girard IV] had a huge role in making that happen for us. Daniel had the game-winning goal and Billy played incredible in net for us.”
Babson (5) v. Geneseo (3)
Much like the afternoon game, goals were hard to come by for either team in the first period, but Geneseo had a marked shot advantage (13-4) in the first 20 minutes but couldn’t solve Babson goaltender Brad Arvanitis with any of their 13 shots. In the second period Justin Cmunt finally broke the ice. After a pair of Knight shots hit posts on a power play, Cmunt went top shelf as the extra-man advantage expired to give Geneseo a 1-0 lead after two periods of play. The Knights again had a wide advantage in shots (14-6),but Arvanitis yielded only the one goal through 40 minutes of play. The third period is where things got crazy starting with a power play goal by Tyson Gilmour in the first 30 seconds of play in the period. Cmunt also assisted on the goal that gave the Knights some breathing room with a 2-0 lead. Defenseman Nathan Poolman extended the lead just three minutes later, but Babson was not going down that easy. Mike Egan scored for the Beavers at 8:34 and Wyatt George would score on a power play with less than five minutes remaining in regulation to close the gap to 3-2. That would be the last goal Matt Petizian (15 saves on 17 shots) would surrender as Geneseo survived the Babson comeback to advance to their fourth Frozen Four in school history.
“I think the better team won,” said Babson coach Jamie Rice. “Geneseo played a great game – they came out with a lot of jump. I think they came out like a team determined to make it to Lake Placid, not that we weren’t, but they came out with a lot of energy and hemmed us in for large stretches of the first 30 minutes of the game. Brad Arvanitis played great – weathered the storm a little bit but then we get the back-breaker to start the third period on the man-down for us, power play for them and it was good execution for them. So disappointed because if we could have got it tilted a little the other way like we did in the final ten minutes of the period as opposed to giving up two goals in the first three minutes of the period it could have been a different game. Credit to Chris and his program they played hard and clean. They are well coached, and they won tonight.”
“It was exactly how I thought it was going to be,” said Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz. “I didn’t expect to get out to a 3-0 lead, but it was a good thing we did. They had a lot of pushback. That first goal they scored gave them some jump. I expected a game that was maybe going to go to overtime with to teams that play pretty similarly. I really respect the job that Jamie [Rice] does with his team. I love the structure that he plays with, and he gives his team an opportunity to win every night. I was really looking forward to playing Babson. Our team was really looking playing them with how they get up and down the ice. It was exactly what I thought the game was going to be.”
Three Biscuits
Billy Girard IV – University of New England – stopped all 38 shots he faced to backstop UNE to a stunning upset of Utica, 2-0, earning their first ever trip to the Frozen Four.
Liam Darcy – University of New England – picked up assists on both UNE goals in their 2-0 win over Utica on Saturday afternoon.
Justin Cmunt – Geneseo – scored the first goal of the game and added an assist on the eventual game-winning goal in Geneseo’s 3-2 win over Babson on Saturday night.
The Frozen Four is now set with the semifinal match-ups on Friday including the University of New England playing Geneseo while Adrian faces Augsburg leading to an east v. west title game on Saturday.
Special thanks to Mr. SUNYAC, Russell Jaslow for the post game presser quotes from the Babson v. Geneseo game and to the NCAA for post-game quotes from the UNE vs. Utica game.
