By Thomas Baldwin
LEWISTON — They are back yet again.
Neil Ruffini scored the lone goal of the game and goaltender Cameron Talbot made 29 saves as the University of Alabama-Huntsville men’s hockey team edged Robert Morris 1-0 in a College Hockey America tournament semifinal at Dwyer Arena on Friday afternoon.
The third-seeded Chargers will meet host Niagara, the No. 4 seed, in tonight’s championship game.
It is the seventh time in the 11-year history of the tournament that the Chargers (11-17-3) have advanced to the championship game.
“I thought our guys did a great job,” UAH coach Danton Cole said. “We worked hard between the whistles. There was not a lot of open space out there, and I was proud of the way they worked. When there was a breakdown, Talbot was there.”
While the Chargers celebrated an excruciatingly hard fought triumph, the Colonials —who finished 10-19-5 — were understandably feeling melancholy.
“There wasn’t a lot of space in that hockey game either way,” RMU coach Derek Schooley said. “Both teams did a good job and played hard. It is a shame that a tipped goal decided it. Both teams had chances and both teams had good goaltending.”
As so often happens this time of the season, a single break can determine the winner of a game — and in this case it was Ruffini who turned out to be the hero.
With RMU’s Ron Cramer sent off for high sticking midway through the second period, Ruffini deflected Brennan Barker’s shot from the point off the crossbar behind RMU goaltender Brooks Ostergard at 11:57.
“I saw it (the puck) go out to the point, and the place where you score is in front of the net, and that’s where I went,” Ruffini said. “I saw ‘Bark’ had the puck. I decided to stand in front of the goalie’s eyes so he couldn’t see it, because it would have a better chance of going in. I got a stick on it and it went into the top corner.
“It was nice to see that go in.”
While Talbot was sharp in recording his fifth shutout of the season, the work of Ostergard cannot be overlooked. He finished with 23 saves.
“There are a lot of good goaltenders in this league, and Ostergard is one of them,” Schooley said. “ I don’t know what more you could have asked him to do.”
NOTES: The Colonials outshot the Chargers 29-24. ... RMU’s Chris Kushneriuk went ballistic in the penalty box after being penalized for hooking at 17:51 of the third period when RMU was desperately trying to tie the game. He smashed his stick against the boards and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct. He again smashed his stick in the Zamboni entrance on the way to the dressing room.
