Last Modified: 1998 June 4
Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org
Score By Periods Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
Provo 0 - 1 - 0 -- 1 3 - 6 - 6 -- 15 4 - 11 0 - 5
Weber State 5 - 7 - 7 --19 24 - 25 - 19 -- 68 5 - 10 3 - 6
The Wildcats of Weber State University had dominated the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Hockey Association regular season almost until the finish, winning their first twelve league games, two by forfeit and the other ten by a combined score of 114-23. But in their last four RMCHA contests, the Widcats went only 2-1-1, winning another forfeit, taking only one point in two games with Utah State, and prevailing 8-5 over the Provo IceCats. The IceCats, unofficial representatives of Brigham Young University, who finished the season with a third as many points as Weber, had nonetheless taken a lead into the third period of that contest at the Weber Ice Sheet in Ogden before WSU rallied to pull out the win. When the two teams met in the first game of the RMCHA tournament Thursday afternoon at the Ice Sheet, however, Weber showed what a difference a few weeks can make.
Provo goalie Jody Brucker, whose 60 saves in the final two games of the regular season gave Provo the split with Utah they needed to grab the last playoff spot, was called upon to make a number of big saves in the early going, but the Weber attack was just too relentless. Brucker saw a game's worth of rubber in the first period, saving 19 of 24 Wildcat shots as Weber took a 5-0 lead into the first intermission.
The onslaught continued in the second as Todd Nate stuffed the sixth WSU goal through the five-hole of a kneeling Brucker. Nate Orr put Provo on the board four minutes into the period by sending Jake Bills's rebound past Dan Skidmore from the other side of the crease, but that would be the last high note for the IceCats. Within a minute, Chris Jensen fired a shot which Brucker gloved, but when the Provo netminder lost his balance and fell backwards into the cage, he dropped the puck over the line. Troy Lorenze made it 8-1 on a 1-on-0, Sparky Parks scored on a rebound for the ninth goal, and Dan Baker put up the tenth on another breakaway. In the second half of the period, Weber got three straight power play markers, two of them coming on a major to Buck Bingham, his second slashing penalty of the period. When Wildcat captain Kiyoshi Ryujin completed his hat trick on the power play at 16:32, Provo called their timeout and put Brennan Masters in net. Brucker had allowed 12 goals on 40 shots in just under two periods.
Masters managed to keep Weber from increasing their lead until just over five minutes into the third when KC Norris made it 13-1. Weber added two shorthanded goals on odd-man rushes 38 seconds apart, and three more at even strength, including Markus Tanninen's third, chasing Masters from the nets in favor of Brucker. Less than a minute after his return, Norris sent one over his right shoulder to complete his hat trick and cap the scoring in Weber's 19-1 domination of Provo. The final shot totals were 67 for the Wildcats and only 15 for the IceCats.
Weber advances to the second-round winners' bracket game at 11:30 Friday morning, while Provo plays an elimination contest at 8am Friday.