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Buffs baffled in rematch with Metro club hockey
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

It was a day of upsets in Colorado on Oct. 7, most notably for the University of Colorado Buffaloes. Their football team lost in triple overtime at home to Baylor, 34-31. But the real crusher was their No.1-ranked Division III hockey team getting stunned by the Roadrunners, 6-4, at The Edge Ice Arena in Littleton.

Although the Metro hockey team took a 9-4 beating the night before from the same CU team in Boulder, the fact a club sport team defeated a sanctioned team speaks volumes about the effort and determination the ‘Runners bring to the ice.

“It was a huge win for us,” Metro head coach Greg Woods said. “That’s the No.1 team in the country for Division III. They’ve played four games, and it was only our second. They beat us last night 9-4, so bouncing back and beating them was huge for us.”

The first period featured numerous Metro penalties that kept CU on the power play. Metro fought off four CU man advantages, thanks to the goaltending of Troy Aubol, who made save after save to keep the Buffaloes off the scoreboard.

“I just tried to cover my rebounds as much as possible and get to as many whistles as possible,” Aubol said. “I just tried to stay focused and when I got tired, I just worked through it.”

CU eventually broke through on a power play with about two minutes left in the period. With a five-on-three advantage, Buffaloes defensemen Matt Casinelli found a loose puck and slapped it past Aubol’s stick side to break a scoreless tie. One second after the goal Metro got a player back, but CU continued on the five-on-four power play with a Roadrunner still in the penalty box.

CU took advantage of the continuing power play by scoring on a wrap-around only 10 seconds later. Left alone behind Metro’s net, CU right winger Brian Bowers faked right and when the defense and goalie fell for it, Bowers went left and found a wide open net to put CU ahead 2-0.

As the first period ended, and the players left the ice toward their respective locker rooms, one of the CU players looked in the direction of the Metro players and chuckled, saying the Roadrunners looked as if they had already lost the game.

It’s uncertain if the ’Runners caught wind of these remarks, but they came out firing in the second period, scoring three goals in the span of a minute and four goals in the period.

Metro’s Brin Arakaki picked off a slow pass in CU’s zone, maneuvered past a CU defender and dequed out the goalie for Metro’s first goal. It only took 10 seconds for Metro to grab their second goal of the game as Kit Hamlin took the puck from the face-off, raced along the outside of the ice and flipped it over the goalie’s glove. Metro evened the game 45 seconds later and eventually took the lead on a power play after CU was penalized for tripping.

“We told (the team) to stay out of the penalty box,” Woods said about the first intermission. “That’s what we had to work on. We scored two short-handed goals, so we picked it up on that aspect, but once we were out of the penalty box, we dominated play.”

But Metro knew that a one-goal lead wasn’t safe with the scoring power CU showed the night before. Dexter Varra, who contributed two points in the previous night’s game, played insurance agent as he scored Metro’s fifth goal of the night at the beginning of the third period, giving the ’Runners a 5-3 lead. CU scored another goal and rushed to tie the game by bringing extra attackers to the Roadrunners’ zone. Varra came through again, however, and added another goal with eight minutes to go on a cross-pass he took from Shawn Lewis.

“I just sat up in front of the net,” Varra said. “They had a defenseman on me, and we went out to the point and got a shot. I just parked my ass there, got the rebound and threw it in the net.”

The win improved Metro’s record to 1-1. They will play a home game against Texas Tech at the South Suburban Ice Arena in Centennial on Oct. 12.