MEN’S DIVISION I
COLORADO BUFFALOES (14-10-2) VS. COLORADO STATE RAMS (22-14-3)
8:30 PM MT | EDORA ICE POOL CENTER | CSU HOCKEY, SKO BUFFS SPORTS
ROCKY MOUNTAIN RIVALRY
It all comes down to this. After sweeping Arizona State, the Buffs’ season is on the line versus their rivals from up I-25 — Colorado State. Colorado’s performance this past weekend against the Sun Devils propelled the Buffs to No. 25 in the rankings. A Nationals bid is on the table — but not without assistance. The Buffs trail West Chester, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Delaware, and Pittsburgh to round out the bottom five.
LATEST RESULTS:
February 10, 2024, ASU: 3 COL: 4 (SO)
February 10, 2024, UNLV: 5 CSU: 2
A SWEEP OF THE SUN DEVILS:
The Buffs returned home from their road trip to San Diego to face the Arizona State Sun Devils — a team also in the Nationals conversation. All storylines leading up to the weekend focused on one singular point: win the weekend, or the season’s over. The Buffs have struggled to close out opponents in both games this season, only having done it twice versus SDSU and ASU.
On Friday’s game, the Buffs were resilient, tying the score twice before pulling ahead to win 4-2 in regulation. Down 1-0 entering the second period, tensions and physicality skyrocketed. Crushing hits were laid out, and in all the commotion, the Buffs began to take over. Drew McConaughy (8-16–24) scored his eighth of the season at 10:16 of the second period to tie at one before Arizona State responded just four minutes later to lead 2-1. Forward Rapolas Marcinkevicius (9-6–15) wasn’t having that though, as just 11 seconds later he twisted into the slot and sniped the puck past goaltender Anthony Bonaldi to tie it two apiece. Nine minutes into the third period — after several penalties by both teams — leading goal-scorer Max Pasiennik (11-18–29) scored on the power play to put the Buffs up by one. To seal the game, Marcinkevicius scored his second of the contest with four minutes remaining. Backstopped by an incredible performance by goaltender Server, the Buffs pulled out a win at home despite a flatfooted structural performance.
After the game, Server commented on the team’s performance in front of him, saying: "It’s a good win, but to say that it was a good game from us is definitely an overstatement… it’s one of those games that we would usually lose."
Saturday’s game was the inverse of the previous night’s — coming to a head in a shootout between the two teams. Pasiennik got the Buffs on the board ten minutes in on a breakaway that came off his own poke check at the blue line. Six minutes later the Sun Devils tied it, and two minutes after that, Adam Trunko (9-12–21) scored to make it 2-1 Colorado after one. A similarly heavy-hitting second period resulted in no scoring for either team, as both were settled into penalty-kill formation for the majority of the frame. To continue the special teams, Arizona State tied at 2 just four minutes into the third, putting the Buffs on their heels. The response, though, was another Pasiennik goal at 10:47 of the third to bring his total to 11 on the season. Colorado looked to close out both games on the weekend for the first time since September, before ASU’s Ty Marchant scored with ten seconds remaining in the game to tie at 3-3. To and through overtime they went, as the Buffs never got a shot on goal during the extra frame and O’Gwen put on a show, stopping four incredible chances from the Sun Devils.
In the shootout, McConaughy was selected first, skating wide before snapping a quick shot under the glove-side arm of ASU’s Cody Creasy (2-3-1). The next two attempts by both squads were missed before Conner Tilman of the Sun Devils baited O’Gwen to his left and put the puck under his blocker-side arm to tie the shootout. The shootout needed just one additional frame, as in Round 4, Marcinkevicius skated wide up top before pushing the puck through Creasy with enough force that it leaked behind and in. It all came down to O’Gwen who tracked ASU’s Ryan Robinson the whole way, stoning him with the blocker to seal the win for the Buffs, 4-3 in the shootout.
BUFFS STATS:
The weekend resulted in a boom in points across the board for Colorado. Pasiennik (11-18–29) upped his leading goal total by three, Marcinkevicius scored twice, and Trunko and McConaughy both scored once. For the apples, Caleb Gold (1-3–4), Jesse Kittay (1-11–12), and Brodie Pearson (10-11–21) all recorded an assist while George Issa (4-10–14) and Jacob Rosolanko (0-3–3) got two assists on the weekend.
On the goaltender front, Colorado split the weekend between Matt Server (5-6-1) and Liam O’Gwen (7-3-1). Server played a marvelous first game, stopping 34 of 36 shots faced for a .944 save percentage. O’Gwen got the nod in game 2, stopping 39 of his 42 shots against, as well as saving 4 of 4 in overtime and 3 of 4 in the shootout.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Special teams were the name of the games over the weekend, as the Buffs took thirteen penalties while the Sun Devils took sixteen themselves. Colorado scored once on the powerplay once, clipping at 18.9% on the season. The Rams are nearly tied, sitting just below at 18.8% on the man advantage. On the kill, it’s a much different story. The Buffs rank last in the WCHL with a 76.2% penalty kill, while the Rams sit at 82.1% — 3rd in the WCHL and 21st overall.
DANGLE, SNIPE, AND STAMPEDE:
Episode 13 of Dangle, Snipe, and Stampede with Alex, Jared, and Aidan features a review of the Buffaloes’ sweep over the Sun Devils, as well as a preview of this weekend’s Rocky Mountain Rivalry series between the Buffs and the Rams for both Men’s and Women’s D1 teams.
Check it out here!
Cover photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports
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