The Colorado Buffaloes men’s club hockey team feels confident about their championship hopes in the Western Classic Tournament.
The Buffs ran away with a 9-1 victory over Texas A&M by picking the Aggies apart Friday night at the CU Recreation Center. Junior forward Conor Williams scored two goals and sophomore goaltender Sam Zarat blocked a staggering 32 shots in the win.
CU is currently on a four-game winning streak and two of those wins have come in the Western Classic Tournament.
If the Buffs win Saturday night against Utah State at 7:30 p.m. in the Rec Center and Colorado State loses, the championship game of the tournament will take place Sunday at 10 a.m in Boulder. If Colorado State advances to the finals, then it will be played in Fort Collins at 2 p.m. Sunday.
It didn’t take long for CU to get on the scoreboard as junior Mark Viau scored on a pass from senior forward Scott Portnoy just 66 seconds into the contest. The goal came after the puck deflected off the stick of Texas A&M senior goaltender Nick Vrla.
Four minutes later, the Buffs’ notched their final goal of the first period as Portnoy scored on passes from forward Matt Ullrich and defensemen Sam Kinney.
Zarat blocked three consecutive shots as the period waned to its end.
The Aggies’ first period could be categorized by a stream of missed opportunities as the Buffs dominated the puck and shut down two A&M breakaways.
The Buffs’ fourth line excelled against A&M.
“We played our fourth line an awful lot,” CU head coach Ken Fikis said. “We wanted to rest our first couple of lines. They played well. They scored a couple goals and ate up a lot of clock time.”
CU continued to govern the puck by scoring five goals in the second period.
The Buffs’ third goal of the night came almost three minutes into the second period on a pass from junior forward Erich Seufert to senior forward Max Myers.
Less than a minute later, forward David Starr approached the left side of the Aggies’ goal, stopped to juke and had his legs swept out from underneath him. Senior forward Sean Carpenter grabbed the loose puck and scored to give CU the 4-0 lead.
Williams scored his first of two goals and the fifth goal of the night, knocking the puck nonchalantly between the pipes with 11:17 to play in the period.
Forty-six seconds later, the Buffs went up 6-0 as forward A.J. Koller crashed into the A&M net after securing the Buffs another tick on the board.
The few A&M fans in the crowd did not look happy halfway through the game. They were saddened when CU forward Bill Haege made it 7-0 with 3:39 left until the second intermission.
Zarat continued to block everything A&M shot at him as the second period finished.
The final period began on another sour note for A&M fans as Williams scored his second goal on the night, a screaming shot that pierced the upper right corner of the Aggies’ net.
Afterwards, the Buffs played it safe with strong defense. The Aggies, meanwhile, missed more shots and opportunities as the Buffs defense became more porous.
Any hopes of a shutout was shattered with 7:42 left in the third as Aggies’ forward Eric Engelking put a Zarat deflection back into a half-open net. The CU goalie said he would have liked to get the shutout.
“I was really hoping for that zero,” Zarat said.
Seufert scored CU’s ninth goal of the night with nine seconds remaining in the game.
When the game ended, the Buffs celebrated being one win closer to the finals. Things may be looking good for the Buffs heading into Saturday night as they look to win their first Western Classic Tournament.
So far, Utah State has beated Texas A&M 4-3 Thursday and Northern Arizona 8-1 Friday.
Colorado beat USU 5-3 on Oct. 3, but Saturday’s game will have more at stake.
Williams said their 9-1 victory over Texas A&M was a good start heading into their showdown with Utah State.
“Everyone feels good about tomorrow night,” Williams said. “We want to be there in the championship Sunday morning.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Zack Shapiro at Zashapiro@colorado.edu.
