Last Modified: 1998 June 4
Joe Schlobotnik / joe@amurgsval.org
Score By Periods Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
Provo 0 - 0 - 2 -- 2 16 - 13 - 16 -- 45 3 - 6 0 - 9
New Mexico 1 - 2 - 3 -- 6 6 - 10 - 6 -- 22 9 - 18 0 - 3
The second day of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Hockey Association tournament started early, with an 8am tilt between the two members of the loser's bracket. The Provo Icecats, unoffical club team of Brigham Young University and 19-1 losers to top-seeded Weber State in the first round, faced the University of New Mexico Ice Wolves, who had fallen 7-1 to Utah State in the late game the night before. The 'Cats and Wolves had only played once before, a 5-4 win for Provo at Utah Lake State Park.
The first period was a quick and cleanly played one. Once again, New Mexico goalie Jimmy Murphy was called upon to make numerous tough saves, 16 in the period. At about the six minute mark Provo came in on a 2-on-1, and the lead man sent an impossible pass from behind the goal line to his linemate right in front of the net, but Murphy stoned him. Shortly thereafter, UNM coach Jonas Ohrberg called timeout and gave his team a lecture which could be heard across the nearly-empty rink. New Mexico opened the scoring a minute and a half later when Edgar Solis made a nice play to bring the puck in at the blue line and Bobby Shade scored on Solis's rebound. New Mexico killed off two Provo power plays late in the period to take the 1-0 lead into intermission.
Solis doubled that lead in the second minute of the second period, finding the upper corner of the net from the top of the zone. It was the start of a very different period. UNM, after being outshot 16-6 in the first, closed that gap to 13-10 in a period that saw numerous delays and seven penalties, six of them on New Mexico. Provo's Jason Poulson got a nasty cut on his chin at the eight-minute mark, leaving a large pool of blood on the ice, and ended up going to the hospital for stitches. New Mexico upped their lead to 3-0 when Provo goalie Jody Brucker slid to his right to stop a Curt Peterson shot from in close. With Peterson out of the play and Brucker out of the net, Solis picked up the rebound for his second goal. Murphy continued his shutout bid, with 29 saves in the first two periods.
Provo finally lit the lamp nine and a half minutes into the third when Jim Dahle caught Murphy out of position to close the gap to 3-1. A few minutes later, the teams combined for three goals in under thirty seconds, with Shade scoring for UNM, followed Provo's Dan Baker and Lobo Nick Hoffman. New Mexico's Lars Helgeson closed the scoring with a 4-on-4 goal with five minutes remaining. Solis had assists on the last two Ice Wolves tallies and ended up with four points in the game, New Mexico's first victory ever in the state of Utah.
The 6-2 loss eliminates Provo from the tournament, and leaves them in fourth place. The Ice Wolves survive to play in the final elimination game at 9pm tonight.