NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – Third seed Alabama-Huntsville made a second period power play tip-in goal by Neil Ruffini stand up in a 1-0 victory over Robert Morris in the College Hockey America semifinals.
Ruffini tipped a shot from the point by defenseman Brennan Barker off the crossbar and in at 11:57 of the second period. The goal marked his eighth of the season, second consecutive game-winning goal, and third in two games at Dwyer Arena. He scored twice in the Chargers 3-2 win over Niagara Feb. 28.
The one-goal margin was the 16th such game of the season for the Chargers to go with three additional overtime ties.
“Most of our conference games are grind-it-out, tight one or two goal games,” said UAH coach Danton Cole. “I thought our guys did a pretty good job with that working hard between the whistles and not allowing a lot of open space.
“The power play and penalty kill lately have been good to us and helped us win a lot of games.”
The Chargers finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage and killed off six Robert Morris power play chances. Even more impressive were 16 shot-blocks including 11 in the third period.
“We did a good job blocking shots on the (Robert Morris) power play and 5-on-5 and we came up with some big blocks at the end,” said Chargers goaltender Cameron Talbot, who finished with 24 saves in registering the fifth shutout over the 11-year CHA playoffs and UAH’s first since Nov. 21, 2008 game against Yale, also a 1-0 affair.
“When we’re playing well, that’s how we play,” Cole said about the blocks. “Talbot made some saves, but that’s commitment level. (Cole’s former head coach) Terry Crisp used to talk about losing a limb to get the puck out or breaking a leg to block a shot and we’ll put somebody else out there.
“It’s an attitude. A tough game played by tough men and it’s probably one of my favorite stats to look at.”
“I kind of like them too,” chimed in Talbot at the press conference.
Robert Morris had its chance late with two consecutive Chargers minor penalties in the final five minutes of the third period, but after not converting on the first minor, the second was negated by a Colonials minor penalty and forced them to play 5-on-5 with the goalie out for all but eight seconds of the last two minutes.
“I think the off-week on the second to last week of the year may have hurt us,” said Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley. “At the time we weren’t healthy so it helped in that way, but I think it may have put a little rust into us.”
Alabama-Huntsville advances to the conference finals to face fourth-seeded Niagara. The Chargers were 4-2-0 against Niagara this season. It will mark the Chargers sixth appearance in the championship game. They are 1-4-0 in the previous five.
SEEN AND HEARD AT DWYER ARENA
• Bemidji State senior forward Chris McKelvie (New Brighton, Minn.) has been selected as one of 32 male and female student-athletes to participate in the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge held in Detroit, Mich. April 9.
• Alabama-Huntsville freshman forward Matti Jarvinen recently had a seven-game scoring streak, the Chargers longest since Jared Ross had points in 11 straight in 2004-05.
• In the postgame press conference, Robert Morris coach Schooley talked about his team’s move to Atlantic Hockey with Niagara next season. “When you play a team seven times in a season, that’s when you get a 1-0 game. They know what we do and we know what they do. And tomorrow, whoever we play for the seventh time will know again. We’re going into a very good league that will be even stronger with the addition of our two teams. And to be able to play different teams and not the same three teams over and over again is going to help everybody. We’re excited about the move and those who doubted our move to Atlantic Hockey are dead wrong for a lot of reasons. Everybody is sick of playing the same teams and you guys are sick of me in this building. I still need to come back, but it’s only once or twice a year. Bemidji has a great home; we have a very good home with Niagara and now it’s time to help Huntsville.”
• The conference tournament host hotel is the first I’ve stayed at in probably 20 years with a television remote control attached to a 10-foot wire. I guess that means it’s not a remote control, but a local control. Takes me back to 1980-something.
