Ninety-eight saves in a game. Let that sink in.
Curry will not be playing in the Division 3 Frozen Four for the first time in program history, but the Colonels have left a historic mark on this NCAA tournament. Specifically, freshman goalie Shane Soderwall, who made nearly a century of stops in his team’s four-overtime, 4-3 loss at Hobart in Saturday night’s quarterfinals.
Trinity, for the first time in seven years, is headed back to this week’s Frozen Four, which it will host, after blanking Elmira, 2-0.
Here are some takeaways from the quarterfinals and a look ahead to the Frozen Four.
Trinity makes winning return, heads to Frozen Four
Thanks to winning the NESCAC, third-seeded Trinity (24-2-1) earned a first-round bye, so Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal was its first game in 13 days.
“There was a school of thought that rust could be a factor with the layoff, but these guys found a way to stay focused the entire two weeks,” said coach Matt Greason.
Junior Alexander Mozian (Old Greenwich, Conn.) and senior Gerard Marretta scored goals midway through the first period, and sophomore goalie Devon Bobak turned aside all 35 shots he faced for his seventh shutout of the season.
“We had great weeks of practice,” said Marretta. “We didn’t take those weeks lightly at all. We were going hard. Right from the hop, we were flying.”
No. 4 Adrian (24-6-1) will be the Bantams’ opponent in the national semifinals after taking down fellow Midwest power St. Norbert. The game will be played Thursday night (7 p.m.) at the Koeppel Community Sports Center, with the NCAA championship game on Saturday,
Curry exits after instant classic 4OT loss to Hobart
When the second-longest game in Division 3 history was finished, the result for Curry (21-6-1) was the same as last year: a loss at Hobart in the NCAA quarterfinals.
But the two losses had little in common.
It took four overtimes and more than 135 minutes of hockey before the top-seeded, defending champion Statesmen (26-2-1) could escape their Commonwealth Coast Conference challengers and book their second straight trip to the Frozen Four.
Soderwall, who had to overtake two upperclassmen to win the starting job early in the season, had a lot to do with that. He made 46 saves in regulation and 52 more in overtime before Bauer Morrissey finished off a passing sequence for the game-winner.
“I mean, he’s incredible,” said Curry coach Peter Roundy. “He’s got a great demeanor about him. Nothing really rattles him. He’s just a heck of a goalie and we’re lucky to have him.”
The record of 98 saves had previously been set by Augsburg freshman Justin Lochner in his team’s four-overtime loss to Gustavus in 2010, the only D-3 game that lasted longer than Hobart vs. Curry. Soderwall topped the previous Curry record of 69 saves set by Mike Manganaro against New England College in 1996.
“Outstanding Curry team,” said Hobart coach Mark Taylor. “Well-coached, well-played. I mean, hats off to them. It was going through my mind that this could go either way. Thankfully it went our way.”
Utica cools off Plymouth State to advance
Explosive Plymouth State (24-3-2) finally ran into an opponent that could slow it down.
The best season in Panthers’ history ended with a 4-1 quarterfinal loss at No. 2 Utica (24-2-3). It was just the second time in 29 games that they failed to score multiple goals.
“It wasn’t the outcome we had planned on,” said coach Craig Russell. “I thought Utica came out with some fire. They played their style, played up-tempo, moved pucks up the ice. I thought it was a little bit back-and-forth in the first period. But in the second period they kind of took over for a couple of shifts and put us back on our heels.”
Senior Colin Tracy (Concord, N.H.) scored the Panthers’ only goal, cutting their deficit to 2-1 in the second period. Goalie Kalle Andersson made 30 saves.
Plymouth State set a program record for wins (24) in addition to winning an NCAA tournament game for the first time ever.
Utica and Hobart will face off in Thursday’s first national semifinal.
@MikeZhe603
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