Nothing like playoff hockey.
Team defense. Tight checking. Hot goaltending. Thrilling endings.
Just don’t tell that to Geneseo and University of New England after their NCAA Division III men’s hockey semifinal game Friday night at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. That was an up-and-down, run-and-gun, red light burning-out type of playoff game.
The goals came fast and furious as Geneseo won 8-3 to move on to the national championship game tomorrow evening against Adrian.
All-Americans Dan Bosio and Peter Morgan scored two goals each while five other players tallied a goal.
“The game plan was to keep it a tight scoring game. Let’s not get into a run-and-gun style,” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said. “And sure enough, the opposite happened. It’s unlike how we play. We had to adapt to the style of play UNE was playing.”
UNE’s coach Kevin Swallow agreed, saying, “We played them a few years ago in the Norwich tournament. It was a very similar game. That was not our game plan going in. We were hoping to play really good team defense tonight. We didn’t play great team defense. They are such a good team, they made us pay for every mistake.”
The first period saw five goals. Bosio led it off one timing a drop pass from the slot. Daniel Winslow tied it receiving a pass down low at the post.
The Geneseo Ice Knights then scored two quick power play goals – Bosio again followed by Chris Perna from the high slot. Peter Morgan finished the period off picking up a loose rebound in the slot, turning to shoot it in.
Morgan converted a two-on-one to expand the lead to 5-1 early in the second. Most felt, the game was done and dusted at that point. But not UNE.
“There was no point where we thought this one was over. We had so many comeback victories this year,” Swallow said.
UNE got their own extra man tally from the backdoor thanks to Jared Christy. Following that goal, it appeared the comeback could possibly happen when Chris Jones cut the deficit to two. However, a video review revealed the play starting out offsides.
“We were pretty high on the bench when we scored that,” Swallow said. “Then we saw it went into review. That was a downer.”
It was an even bigger downer when Geneseo opened the third period scoring 10 seconds after the faceoff. Tyson Gilmour knocked in an unseen loose puck behind the goalie to make it 6-2.
The Nor’easters refused to give up. Anthony Sciucco found himself in front alone with the goalie. He went to his backhand and flipped it in.
For Geneseo goalie Matt Petizian, it was not the typical game he was used to which is a disciplined defense in front of him.
“It was a little adjustment at first. In any case I have to make those big saves,” he said.
Forty-three seconds later, Matthew Doran scored with the Ice Knights two men up. Alex Wilkins finished it up with a one-timer, just his second goal of the season, and third of his career for the junior defender.
“We were trying to expose the soft ice areas as much as possible,” Schultz said.
The very un-playoff game scoring barrage was over.
“It’s an emotional game,” Schultz said. “Both teams wanted to win really badly. When that happens, often times you can get outside of what you are used to.”
For UNE, this was their most successful season, finishing at 23-4-1, the CCC championship, and a trip to the national semifinals.
“Most fun I ever had playing hockey,” said Jones, also Geneseo’s captain. “We put our program on a national scale.”
Geneseo now stands at 24-3-1 with one more game to play.
“They played a great hockey game tonight. They deserved to win,” Swallow said of Geneseo. “They’re going to represent the east well in the national championship game. Adrian is a very good team. Geneseo is a very good hockey team. It should be a great final.”
Just don’t expect another run and gun game.
“We’ll rely on our process,” Schultz said. “We can’t think too much about them. I’m more concerned making sure our guys are ready to play our style of hockey, which is defending, blocking shots, good goaltending.”
Exactly what you expect a “normal” playoff game to be.
