Rams Lock Horns

When the 11^th ranked Rhode Island and 25^th ranked Colorado State teams locked horns Friday morning in Pool E action both teams were seeking their first win of the tournament.  But despite Colorado State jumping out to a three-goal lead neither team left the rink with a victory as Rhode Island scored three goals in the final 6:00 and the game finished in a 3-3 tie. 

 

After a scoreless first period, Colorado State opened the scoring 4:15 into the second period when Tim Albrecht (1 goal, 1 assist) batted home the rebound of his own shot over the glove of URI goaltender Rob Serratelli (42 shots) to give CSU a 1-0 lead.  Albrecht created the opportunity when he received a pass from Larry Goolsby (1 goal, 2 assists) in the right corner and walked out to the front of the net taking a low wrist shot that popped straight up in the air. 

 

Colorado State extended their lead 1:31 later on the power play when Jeff Bjorklund beat Serratelli with a wrist shot low to the stick side giving the hometown Rams a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period.  Although Rhode Island maintained steady pressure on the CSU defense throughout the first two periods and held a 29-21 advantage in shots over the Rams, they faced an uphill battle in the third period to get their first point in the tournament standings. 

 

With Rhode Island defenseman Greg Baker (1 goal, 1 assist) and forward Bryan Eriksen in the box for high sticking, Colorado State took advantage of the 4 on 2 power play opportunity to widen their lead when Goolsby buried a pass coming out from behind the net into the back of the Rhode Island goal.  Albrecht created the opportunity when he gained possession of the puck behind the Rhode Island net.  While skating across the back of the net, Albrecht spotted Goolsby wide open in off to the side of the left post moving the puck to him with a sharp pass to catch Serratelli moving in the wrong direction. 

 

Rhode Island finally got on the scoreboard on a 4 on 2 power play of their own when Matt Cubeta (1 goal, 1 assist) corralled the rebound of a point shot from Rick McGuire and put it around Colorado State goaltender Tyler Mitchell (42 saves) to cut the lead to 3-1 with 6:34 remaining. 

 

URI closed within a goal when Baker scored with a wrist shot from the high slot over Mitchell?s glove with 2:49 remaining.  Cubeta created the opportunity when he skated into the right corner with the puck before spotting Baker skating in from the point passing the puck to Baker open in the slot. 

 

Rhode Island came close to tying the score with 0:49.3 remaining when Ryan Rubenstein one-timed a rebound towards an open portion of the Colorado State net, but Mitchell would not give up the game-tying goal stretching across the crease to snare the puck with his glove hand. 

 

On the ensuing face-off in the right face-off circle, with Serratelli on the Rhode Island bench for an extra-attacker, URI controlled the puck in the Colorado State zone passing the puck around the perimeter of the Colorado State defense until Eriksen spotted Tom O?Hara standing alone on the right face-off dot.  O?Hara quickly surveyed his options before firing a wrist shot through Mitchell?s legs to tie the score at 3-3 with only 0:23.9 remaining. 

 

Although Rhode Island controlled the puck off the center ice face-off, they were unable to move into scoring position and the battle of the Rams ended with each team remaining winless, but securing their first point of the tournament. 

 

Rhode Island and Colorado State both finished round robin play with a record of 0-2-1.  Colorado State will play their first game in the elimination round early Saturday morning with the opening face-off scheduled at midnight against SUNY-Buffalo.  Rhode Island will begin the elimination round Saturday morning against Denver University when the puck drops at 1:00 AM.