Colorado D2 hockey sweeps SMU
- Quinn Kreck
- 7 days ago
- 9 min read
In a chaotic last home series of the season, the Colorado Buffaloes men’s Division 2 team swept the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. For the third weekend in a row, Colorado went without a loss to increase its win streak to eight.
The Buffs’ late-blooming style of play continued across two games. After the first 20 minutes in both games, CU trailed, 3-1 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday. In both, the Buffs played strong second periods as they dictated the pace of play. SMU was outscored 10-1 in the second period for the weekend.
Southern Methodist struggled to stay out of the sin bin, as it racked up 47 penalty minutes. Forward Copeland Fricker had an especially undisciplined weekend with six penalty minutes. For Colorado, discipline proved to be an issue as well. CU had 28 PIMs in the two games. Four different Buffs had four PIMs.
The Buffs’ offense had a strong weekend, scoring 18 goals against the Mustangs. Freshman Brick Fisher continued his hot streak from the weekend before with a double hat-trick in Friday’s Senior Night win. Senior David Levkus took some of the spotlight on Senior Night with a one-goal, four-assist performance on Friday and finished the weekend with nine points.
Game 1: Colorado 10-6
Senior night for five players (Issac Nefs, Tanner Simpson, Zaine Polacsek, Connor Smithburger and Levkus) ended up being a barnburner.
Colorado honored the seniors in a nice ceremony before the game. Once the puck dropped, players were anything but nice. CU got a short power play attempt when Colin Craig went to the box for hooking 45 seconds in. Colorado’s power play ended quickly as Will Hadrick headed to the box for interference less than 30 seconds later.
After the failed power plays of both teams, the Buffs dictated the pace and outshot SMU 5-1. The Mustangs worked against the flow of play, as Joseph Stock battled in the corner and passed it out to captain Craig, who was wide open and whistled one by Caleb Allen’s right shoulder with 12:29 to go.
CU picked up where it left off before the goal and continued to dominate possession, but SMU again took advantage of its few opportunities on a turnover in their own end. John Bagg intercepted a pass and sprung Jett Honig and Fricker for a two-on-one. Honig saucered to Fricker, who squeaked a five-hole goal through Allen.
Freshman goaltender Peter Miller had all the answers for the Buffs’ offensive attempts for over half of the first period. Miller stoned the first 10 shots he faced and kept SMU in it off its slow start.
The hot start for Miller did not discourage the Buffs, as Polacsek got creative down low. From the corner at the end line, the senior defenseman fired one that beat Miller cleanly for the Buffs’ first of Senior Night.
Two quick goals for both teams left CU hoping to enter the second only down by one. With 2:35 to go, Craig extinguished these hopes with a quick goal off a face-off, his second goal of the period to make it 3-1 Mustangs.
To start the second period, the Buffs waited to receive a power play after Fricker collided with Allen less than 15 seconds in. With the net empty, Fisher hopped over the boards as the extra skater and picked up a loose puck that he fired by Miller.
Fisher was only getting started in the second period. After SMU’s Honig missed a wide-open net, the Buffs picked up a loose puck for an odd-man rush the other way. Defenseman Gage Perri went coast to coast with the puck, then dropped the puck for Fisher, who sniped his second of the period by Miller.
Penalty calls began to return as Perri headed to the box for CU, and SMU’s Peter Poulianas joined him less than a minute later. With all the extra space, Colorado opted to go with three forwards on the ice. The lineup’s added pressure resulted in a turnover by Charlie Glazier. Smithburger jumped on the loose puck and fed it across to Fisher, who buried it for his second hat trick in two weeks.
The Buffs’ three unanswered goals gave them a 4–3 lead with 6:59 to go in the second. With two minutes to go in the middle frame, Brooks Pearce tripped up Hadrick in the defensive zone. With its first full power play opportunity since the first, Colorado acted quickly. On a face off to the right of Miller, Levkus won it back to Kory Dipoinio, who passed it right back to Levkus for a wrister that beat Miller.
With emotions running high in the final minutes, Smithburger high-sticked Craig to send SMU to the power play with a chance to get within one. CU killed off the last minute of the period, and right as the buzzer sounded, Fricker committed an infraction. Fricker tried to get a cross-check off on Hunter Wraalstad, but the refs caught him.
Four-on-three action kicked off the third period in favor of the Buffs, as Brooks Wright headed to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Right off the first faceoff, Colorado kept the pace that they had throughout the second period. The Buffs peppered Miller, and it paid. After a blocked shot, Fisher picked up the loose puck and found Levkus, who quickly sent it back to Fisher for his fourth goal of the game.
The Mustangs refused to be counted out, however. With the extra space that four-on-four allowed, Honig skated it and fired one from the blueline. What seemed like a simple save beat an unsuspecting Allen to make it 6-4.
After an exciting first minute of play, the third period settled down before ending in chaos. Discipline problems returned for the Mustangs as Stock headed to the box for tripping with 13:04 to go. The Buffs’ power play unit showed up again, as some quick passing in the offensive zone resulted in Fisher’s fifth of the game for a 7-4 lead.
The Mustangs went on the kill again after Pearce got called for tripping. Colorado’s high forecheck came back to bite them. After a defensive zone face-off win, Fricker took off down the ice, and a stretch pass by Poulianas gave him a short-handed breakaway that he put between Allen’s legs.
The Buffs did not let this go to their heads. On another power play opportunity, Dipoinio padded the lead with a goal over the right shoulder of Miller off the faceoff. A little over a minute later, Fisher scored his sixth of the game for a double hat trick and to increase the Buffs’ lead to four for the first time.
After a trip from Nefs, SMU chipped away again. Craig shot a wrister by Allen off a cross-ice pass for his second of the game.
With four minutes left, SMU found itself down by three and facing an uphill battle. Colorado restored its four-goal lead in tight via Diponio for his second of the night. The lead proved insurmountable, as the Buffs took game one.
Game 2: Colorado 8-5
The hectic, high-scoring affair of Friday’s game created a tough act to follow, but Saturday’s game easily followed suit.
Unlike the night before, SMU came out with its foot on the gas pedal, while CU played a step behind. But similarly, the team that started slower scored the first goal. A defensive play at the blue line by Levkus allowed the Buffs to keep the offensive end. He dished it to the captain, Nefs, and Colorado’s second shot against Luke Latham gave it the lead.
To continue parallels between the two games, the Buffs’ high press in the offensive zone resulted in another Fricker breakaway. He went with the same move in tight, this time on Harrison Smith. Even though it was on a new goalie, the result was the same, as SMU tied it at one with 4:08 to go.
Both teams traded chances in each other's zones in the final minutes of the first. In what looked like a low-stakes chance for SMU, James Christie fired a shot at Smith that beat him through the five hole. For the second night in a row, the Mustangs led going into the second period.
But Colorado’s habit of strong second periods returned, as Josh Genin tied it for the Buffs. Genin, who had not played the night before, cut across the crease to beat Latham.
CU kept up the pressure, scoring three goals in less than four minutes. On a neutral zone turnover, Hadrick and Levkus set up a give-and-go pass play that sent Hadrick into the crease for his first of the weekend. Another player who did not see action in Friday’s contest followed Hadrick’s goal. Eli Powers, on a three-on-one, elected to shoot instead of trying the pass and put one by an unsuspecting Latham.
Breaking up the Buffs’ scoring assault, Fisher was awarded a penalty shot. Looking to continue his scoring streak, he came in on Latham’s left side and tried to go forehand-backhand-top-shelf, but Latham extended the blocker to deny Fisher’s seventh of the weekend.
Colorado kept up the offensive pressure after the denied penalty shot. Only 15 seconds later, Elyjah Sue skated into the zone on a two-on-one with Smithburger, who put one on Latham. Latham made the initial stop, but the rebound landed right on the goal line, and Sue tapped it in.
The quick start to the second period put the Buffs up 5-2 with 12:47 to go. After being overwhelmed, SMU took a timeout to regroup and slow down Colorado’s momentum.
Initially, the game appeared to calm down as both teams traded opportunities, but the discipline issue returned with a high stick by Stock with 7:46 left in the final frame. Colorado’s hot power play barely saw the ice as Fisher headed to the box for the same infraction.
At four-on-four, neither team utilized the extra space as SMU went to a short power play, then play returned to even strength. The Buffs’ kill returned to the ice, however, as Brandon Hackett headed to the box for indirect contact to the head.
Although the kill had been strong for Colorado all weekend, SMU finally broke through. After some confusion in front of the net, the puck kicked out to the top of the circles, where Bagg rang one off the post and in to bring the Mustangs within two.
SMU’s lack of discipline returned in the dying seconds of the second period. Poulianas went to the box for cross-checking with only 52 seconds left. With little time, Colorado acted fast. The panic that CU created all weekend on the power play earned them a greasy power play goal by Genin to restore a three-goal lead.
After five consecutive chaotic periods, the third period of Saturday night's game somehow topped the list. The frustration that SMU had built up all weekend all poured out, and Colorado matched the physicality of the Mustangs. Both teams combined for 35 penalty minutes in the third, 23 coming from the Mustangs and 12 from the Buffs.
SMU did not look lost to start, with multiple high-danger chances against Smith coming right out of the gate. The Mustangs’ high-octane play out of the gate proved to be too much for CU. Multiple quick passes left the Buffs in a frenzy, and a loose puck off a rebound fell to Oscar Hill with a wide-open net, 6-4 CU.
SMU’s hot start to the third slipped away from them as its players’ self-control unraveled once again. Wright headed to the box for elbowing, and a little less than two minutes later, Christie followed him after tripping Smithburger. CU did not waste the short five-on-three opportunity, as right when Wright stepped out of the box, Levkus sniped one past Latham to make it 7-4 CU.
Another power play chance after a Fricker slash gave Levkus another chance. Off a pass down low, he had plenty of time in between the circles and carefully placed his shot into the right corner.
The eighth goal proved to be the goal that broke the Mustangs’ back, as 30 seconds later, Glazier attacked Aiden Johnson. Glazier hacked at Johnson before bringing him to the ground as both players traded blows.
Glazier received a 15-minute major and game misconduct for a face mask, while Johnson was assessed a roughing minor. In the chaos, Alex Bouck was rounded up for a roughing penalty as well, sending the Mustangs to the power play.
Colorado killed off the four-on-three, but in the process took another penalty, as Hadrick ended up crashing into Latham for a charging penalty. To add insult to injury, right as Johnson and Bouck exited the box, Perri was called for a trip. The two penalties resulted in another four-on-three opportunity for SMU. On that opportunity, the Mustangs took a penalty as Craig went to the box for holding.
During three-on-three, the Mustangs finally used the extra space. Wright created a turnover, found himself alone in front of Smith and went five-hole.
When the clock wound down, Hadrick and Perri exited the box. CU had a short five-on-three chance then a five-on-four chance, but failed to capitalize on either.
After the penalty pandemonium, cooler heads finally prevailed, and the final three minutes after Colorado’s power play were rather regular. When the final buzzer sounded, both teams still lined up for the handshake line.
What’s Next
Even though the Mustangs were the final home series for D2, CU will now hit the road for its last three games of the season. Colorado will head to Arizona for a three-game series against three different Arizona schools. D2 will play Grand Canyon on Thursday, Northern Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Saturday for its final three games of the regular season.
The Buffs have already clinched first place in the Big Mountain Hockey Conference, their first conference win in program history.
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