By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS – Slow starts can sometimes burn good teams and unfortunately for the St. Thomas men’s hockey team, it’s been making a habit of it.
The Tommies fell behind early in their previous two games, but unlike the season opening loss to St. Cloud State last week, they were able to fight back in the third period and force a 5-5 tie with Vermont Friday night. UST trailed by two goals on two separate occasions in the game, but it rallied both times.
“I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody that’s watched us over the last couple years,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “We’re a pretty resilient group. We need to be better from the start and we need to play with a little bit more purpose. We did in stretches when we were down, and then either we don’t win a battle, or we’re loose on our assignments, and all of a sudden, it’s a two-goal lead again. We’ve got to get to the standard and stick to the standard from the moment the puck drops.”
The Tommies opened the first period with some fast-paced play, but it was the Catamounts who got on the scoreboard first as Colin Kessler tucked a rebound past Tommies goalie Jake Sibell at the 2:33 mark. However, just two minutes later, UST answered back on a goal by captain Lucas Wahlin. UST’s Liam Malmquist sent a pass from the slot over to Wahlin to beat Vermont goalie and Minnesota State transfer Keenan Rancier glove-side to tie it up at 1-1.
The lead didn’t last though as a costly tripping call on Cooper Gay led to another Catamount goal by Kessler at the 16:26 mark and Vermont took a slim 2-1 advantage into the period break. The Catamounts led 16-7 in shots.
Play was a little more even in the second period and Sibell did a good job keeping the deficit at just one goal. However, Vermont struck again at the 11:25 mark on a heads-up play by Jens Richards. Sibell was down trying to cover the puck, but it slipped loose behind him and Richards tapped it into the back of the net to make it 3-1 Catamounts.
In need of a spark before the period ended, the Tommies got it with eight seconds left as Malmquist sent a cross-ice pass over to Mason Poolman, who one-timed the puck past Rancier to trim Vermont’s lead to 3-2 heading into the third.
After killing off a 5-on-3 early in the third, UST found the equalizer with 13:55 left. Casy Laylin led a rush up the ice and fed the puck across the slot to his brother Luc, who then snapped it past Rancier to tie it at 3-3.
The lead didn’t last long though as Vermont snatched it back 47 seconds later thanks to a tally by Massimo Lombardi. 36 seconds after that, the lead was back up to two goals as Michael La Starza made it 5-3 Catamounts.
UST didn’t quit though. After Rancier made a save on Wahlin’s shot, the rebound slipped out to the right post and Gay backhanded it into the net to cut Vermont’s lead back to one at 5-4 at the 11:24 mark.
After Jake Braccini was denied by Rancier on a breakaway with 5:34 left, Poolman got his second goal of the night when his shot from the point got through traffic and into the net to knot the game at 5-5 at 15:05.
UST had two great looks in overtime, both coming seconds apart from Matthew Gleason as the Tommies tried to kill a penalty, but Rancier stayed strong to force the tie.
“Once we tied it up, I thought we were coming on and we were playing really well,” Blasi said. “And then all of a sudden, they get two quick ones on a couple of miscues. And then I thought we came on again and I thought we really carried the momentum from that point on. Even in overtime during the kill, we had some great chances. I don’t think they had a chance 3-on-3 to my recollection. Again, it’s not a surprise to me that we keep fighting back. Tonight, the goals went in. You can’t put yourself in a hole every night because sometimes the puck won’t go in. We’ve got to get to our standard and stick to our standard. It’s not about squeezing the stick or anything like that. This is just about us getting to where our game needs to be to be successful and we’re not there yet.”
The two teams will tangle again tonight at 6 p.m. in the Heights.