#7 Aurora University Spartans (25-5-1) vs #3 Hamilton College Continentals (21-5-2)
Hamilton 6-3 Aurora
In the early game of the day, we saw one of two first-time matchups take place between an east and west region team. Aurora University, a program in only their 12th season (10th under HC Jason Bloomingburg) and Hamilton College in their 108th season (14th under HC Rob Haberbusch), both teams in their first-ever Frozen Four semifinal games.
In this one, it was an interesting game to say the least as it had momentum swings from the start.
Hamilton College defeats Aurora University 6-3, advancing to the National Championship. (Photo by Kevin Colton)
Early on, Aurora seemed to have the edge in terms of pace and controlling the game, but a Spartan penalty would quickly erase that as the Continentals fired in an early powerplay goal from Luke Tchor in under a minute of the powerplay beginning to give Hamilton the early 1-0 lead. It was evident early of the extremely high individual skill the Spartans showed when operating with the puck, stickhandling, & speed, but Hamilton was operating more efficiently as a unit.
Following this powerplay, Hamilton would maintain control for most of the period, creating a fair number of chances and not allowing Aurora to generate many grade-A opportunities. The Continental lead would be doubled with just over five minutes left in the opening period as Noah Leibl found the back of the net to send us to the first intermission with a 2-0 “home crowd” lead.
In the 2nd period, Aurora got on the board early with an interesting goal. Lukas Sedlacek turned around and fired the puck at Reid and it found its way through the five-hole almost in slow-motion like form, cutting the deficit in half in under five minutes of puck drop.
However, Hamilton about 10 minutes later ended up scoring a pair of goals in a short span as the Spartans would later on. Justin Biraben & Ben Zimmerman scored a pair in under a two minute span of one another (13:05 & 15:41), making it a commanding 4-1 lead with just under 25 minutes left in the game, which would hold for the rest of the 2nd period.
In the 3rd, Aurora finally found themselves offensively as we’re used to seeing them do. We’ve seen them score flurries of goals plenty of times, such as round one against Saint John’s when they scored three goals in under a minute to put the game away. About seven minutes into the period, Jakson Kirk fired in a transition goal cutting the deficit to two, followed by the same type of goal in transition from his teammate Landry Schmuck, firing it in the top corner to make it a 4-3 game.
Late in the game, we would see some controversy over a disallowed goal-line review for Aurora which appeared to show the puck across the line, but nevertheless, the game remained Hamilton 4-3 after the no-goal call for the Spartans after their late flurry.
Hamilton College defeats Aurora University 6-3, advancing to the National Championship. (Photo by Kevin Colton)
Following this, Aurora would be assessed a delay-of-game penalty in the faceoff dot, essentially ending the game as the Continentals scored a pair of empty net goals, winning 6-3 and making their first-ever National Championship game this Sunday afternoon against Hobart College at 3pm EST.
For goaltending, Hamilton’s Aksel Reid made 35 saves on 38 shots, while Aurora’s Matt O’Donnell made 25 saves on 29 shots.
If you would like to read Scott Kinville’s full recap of the game on CNYHockeyReport.com, click here.
#5 Wisconsin-Stout (23-5-1) vs #1 Hobart College (29-0-0)
Hobart 4-2 Wisconsin-Stout
This was game two of the day and once again, a new matchup once again as these two have never played one another. Going into this game, I felt we would be in for a treat based on styles of play and the way UW-Stout played against Utica last weekend in their quarterfinal matchup. We were treated to extremely physical play the whole game, but especially early on as the Blue Devils were sticking to their game plan and trying to make the game “clunky” for the Statesmen as they did for the Pioneers.
It seemed to be working for the most part with all things being considered, but it had its negatives to go along with it as well. We would see Hobart get on the board first, scoring in the opening three minutes was Conor Lally, making it 1-0 Statesmen early in the game.
Following this, we would see again lots of continued pressure from Stout, which led to some interesting penalties which essentially were served consecutive to one another as the Blue Devils has three penalties all within 15 seconds of the previous one concluding, essentially making it a six-minute man-advantage for Hobart in the midway portion of the 1st.
Wisconsin-Stout falls 4-2 against Hobart College in the National Semifinal. (Photo @uwstouthockey)
It’s not often the Sid Watson award winner Damon Beaver gives up a goal that isn’t a rebound opportunity, and Nicholas Pigeon did just that, scoring on a cluster opportunity off a rebound, making it 1-1 as we headed into the 2nd period in an extremely entertaining game.
In the 2nd, we would see Hobart get their game back to what we usually see, but Stout did an excellent job all things considered when it came to managing the game, trying to hold on. The defense would breakdown just past the midway mark of the period when Tamas Toth found himself in open ice on a breakaway off a pass from Arvega Hovsepyan, the leading assist-man for the Statesmen who had two in this one, firing it past Sebastian Monaco, getting Hobart back in front.
In the 3rd, we saw the ice tilt Hobart’s way as potentially UW-Stout might’ve been a little tired from their style and pace of play the first two periods. Chris Duclair doubled the lead just over eight minutes in and made it 3-1 Statesmen with 12 minutes left.
Hobart defeats Wisconsin-Stout 4-2 to advance to their fourth straight National Championship (Photo @ncaadiii)
Despite trailing, Stout kept playing great hockey and creating chances. Hobart took a game misconduct penalty late in the game (contact to the head) which resulted in a five-minute Stout PP.
Early on in the man-advantage, Stout’s Arhip Sidarovich fired one in, making it 3-2 Statesmen while maintaining the extra attacker due to the penalty being a major. However, Hobart would get a man back essentially as Stout was then called for interference, making it a 4v4 and then 5v4 Stout advantage for about 20 seconds, time wise.
With a few seconds left in the brief 5v4 that was mentioned, Stout pulled the goalie to make it 6v4, but Hobart’s Ignat Belov scored an empty netter, sealing the deal and sending Hobart to their fourth straight National Championship game, keeping the four-peat alive. They’ll face Hamilton at 3pm EST on Sunday afternoon.
For goaltending, Damon Beaver keeps winning, making 19 saves on 21 shots, while the freshman Sebastian Monaco made an impressive 36 saves on 39 shots.
