April 6, 2009
The Shot Heard Around The Inline Nation
Blake Propp Goal Sends UMSL to National Championship
Feasterville, PA - All season long, two teams stood above the rest
and fittingly those two teams were set to meet on Sunday afternoon at
The Sportsplex in sunny Philadelphia. Lindenwood University came into
the game, bringing with it one of the most dominating streaks in all of
college sports. The previous 146 times the Lions took the rink, they
came away without facing a defeat, and the last time they lost was
against the team on the other bench. UMSL had been the last team to
claim a victory from the Lions, winning the GPCIHL championship last
season in a shocking upset. UMSL advance to the championship after
defeating the University at Buffalo by a 2-1 score in what was a closely
checked game that could have gone to either team.
The
excitement started in the first period when Lindenwood had an early
chance to take the lead, but UMSL goalie Jimmy Steger (St.
Peters, MO) snatched away the opportunity with a nice glove save. From
there, UMSL took control of the action but couldn't seem to solve Dave
Thomas (St. Louis, MO) in net for the Lions.
With 4:44 remaning in the first period, Lindenwood drew first blood. Michael Inouye (San
Jose, CA) took a feed from Michael Thiefault (Lake Worth, FL) and fired
a deadly wrist shot topshelf to put the Lions on top. Moments later,
Lindenwood had a good opportunity to extend the lead to two goals, but
Steger was strong between the pipes.
With the
period drawing to a close, Travis Fudge (Springfield, MO) made a
mistake when he took a Triton hard into the boards in what was a
dangerous play and drew a five minute major for boarding. UMSL didn't
take long to capitalize on the opportunity when Danny Dwyer (St.
Charles, MO) took a PJ Tallo (St. Louis, MO) feed and fired it past a
sprawed out Lions' goalie to tie the game at one. The period would end
with the Tritons still with 2:48 remaining in the Fudge major.
PJ
Tallo, the most talked about player on the UMSL team, gave the Tritons
the lead early in the second. Tallo took a feed from senior Adam Clarke
(St. Louis, MO) and picked his corner to give UMSL the 2-1 lead.
Lindenwood killed of the remaining time on the penalty and for the
first time in five minutes, the game would be played at even strength.
Lindenwood used the man advantage to get things back on even terms, when Jeff Hill (St. Peters, MO) beat Jimmy Steger with help from fellow stars, Travis Fudge and Kyle Gouge (Wentzville, MO). It didn't take long for UMSL to respond as Tallo got his second goal of the period off a feed from Mary Gwozdz (Forth Worth, TX) to put UMSL right back on top. Gouge got the goal back twenty three seconds after the Tallo goal, Thiefault found Gouge for a quick strike to knot the game at 3-3.
Lindenwood had thought they took a 4-3 lead in the second period when Lindenwood seemingly fired home a rebound off a shot from the point. UMSL goalie Jimmy Steger and his fellow teammates stormed after the officials, indicating the puck had been kicked into the net. After a short conference, the refs overturned the call on the rink and took the goal off the board. In addition to the two floor officials, the NCRHA goal judge deemed a kicking motion as well. After explaining the call to the coaches of both teams, the period resumed and ended tied at three.
After a few minutes of no action, Lindenwood drew a well deserved penalty for slashing that gave the Lions the man advantage. PJ Tallo individually killed the first minute of the penalty, spinning off Lindenwood forecheckers before sending the puck the length of the rink. After a few blocked shots by Adam Clarke, Lindenwood thought they had solved the Tritons' keeper when the puck was rolling between the pads before Steger turned around and grabbed it with his glove.
Lindewood controlled the action for the last five minutes of the game, contrastly attacking the UMSL zone, but could never get any good lucks at the net as player after player sacrificed the body for the Tritons. With almost no time remaining in the game, Blake Propp (St. Charles, MO) took a PJ Tallo feed and took off down the rink. After beating the Lindenwood defender, Propp deked out Thomas in the goal but had nothing to shoot at as he was forced behind the net. However, Propp fired the puck back in front of the net as it hit off of the skate of the sprawled out Thomas and trickled into the net for a 4-3 lead that set of a wild celebration with 17 seconds remaining in the game.
Lindenwood still had an oppurtunity to tie the game, however, PJ Tallo blocked another shot that skirted out into the neutral zone where he picked it up and fired it into the wide open net as the horn sounds for a 5-3 victory. When the horn sounded, the UMSL players stormed the court and formed a massive dog pile of humanity in front of the UMSL net, and we can only assume that goalie Jimmy Steger was somewhere near the bottom.
After the game, UMSL assistant coach couldn't help but express the contribution of a player that may not have made it onto the scoresheet. James Lambert explained, "Everyone on our team agrees that Andy (Meade) should be Nationals
MVP." Meade (St. Peters, MO) was huge in shutting down the top threats of both Lindenwood and Buffalo, including numerous blocked shots throughout the tournament.
When the dust settled and UMSL celebrated their first national championship in division one, Lindenwood continued to show their character. All of the Lindenwood fans applauded the effort of the Tritons despite their disappointment with the results. Additionally, the Lindenwood players, who had their hearts ripped out with the goal in the final moments, still mustered up the energy to hug and congratulate UMSL on the victory.