Last weekend, an important lesson was learned: Even if a team does everything the way they are supposed to, a win is not guaranteed.
The Saint Louis University club hockey team picked up a pair of hard-fought losses to Iowa State University in their final home series of the season last weekend. Friday night, the Billikens gave up a late two-goal lead with five minutes left, to end the night in a disappointing 8-7 finish. A win would have guaranteed the team a spot in the upcoming American Collegiate Hockey League national tournament.
“We went down defensively,” said captain Tim Niedbalski. “It was a mental letdown. We relaxed and we thought we were in [the national tournament]. I guess it’s like the old saying goes, ‘You have to play the entire game.'”
Saturday night, the Billikens had a chance to avenge the previous night’s mishap and succeeded in playing vivaciously on defense while continuing to pressure the Cyclones on offense.
Barely three minutes into the game, Jon Zimmer put the Bills on the scoreboard by burying a pass from Al Lordo. For the remainder of the period, the Billikens and the Cyclones traded shots, but halfway through the period ISU’s Tony Daniels tied the game. ISU closed the period with a 2-1 lead after a scuffle in front of the net resulted in Jeff Smith netting Nick Spring’s rebound.
During the second period, the Bills looked less sharp than in the first, but they nevertheless continued to attack successfully. Chris Peterson notched the goal that tied the game, off a shot from a yard in front of the blue line on a power play, but ISU retaliated just seconds later with a second goal from Daniels that came quietly in front of the Billiken net.
With less than a minute remaining in the period, Niedbalski had a chance to tie the game when he slid a shot through traffic in front of ISU net that appeared to cross the goal line, but officials ruled that the goal did not count.
“We had plenty of chances to score, but we missed a couple of open nets,” Niedbalski said. “Their goalkeeper made some good saves, but Geoff [Schuessler] made some great saves for us.”
ISU widened the margin of the game early in the third period, with an unassisted goal from Zach Peterson. Midway through the period, the Bills cut the ISU lead in half with a power play goal from Adam Kulp.
In the final few minutes of the game, SLU called a timeout and pulled goaltender Schuessler in an effort to add another attacker in ISU zone. Niedbalski took the last shot of the game with only a few ticks left, but his shot sailed just wide and the game closed at 4-3.
“I think we are just as good as [ISU] in each game they just got one more goal. It’s frustrating because it was so close, but we showed that we can play with teams ranked above us,” Niedbalski said.
This weekend, the Bills will play in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League Tournament. Ohio State is slated to be the first game for the Bills in the tournament, while the rest of the tournament’s schedule will be dictated by wins.
After the CSCHL Tournament, the Billikens will have two weeks to prepare for the ACHA National Tournament, who they received an at-large bid following last weekend’s games.
