New York, NY -- One day after notching a thrilling overtime victory over top-ranked Siena College on Saturday, an exhausted NYU hockey team fell to Central Connecticut, 8-2, in Sunday's Super East Championship final.
Injuries and fatigue from playing three games in three consecutive days left the team at less than full strength, and contributed to the team's second place finish in the tournament.
"We knew we could play well against all the teams," sophomore Mark Branden said. "Everyone was playing through injuries. We were just a bit short on guys."
Sophomore Bryan Friedman, the team's second-leading point scorer, was sidelined with a knee injury. Freshman forward Erick Lazar was forced to sit out with a separated shoulder. Defensemen Sebastian Bilodeau and Sean Clauson also did not play.
Friday's opening round match against Marist College showed a sign of things to come. Ranked fourth in the tournament, NYU faced Marist College in the first round of the tournament. NYU quickly jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one period on goals from forward Michael Tanella, captain Todd Portadin and Branden.
The Red Foxes fought back, however. They scored three goals in the second period, tying the game up at 4-4. Just 1:33 into the overtime period, Tanella once again was able to get the puck by Marist's goalie, helping NYU get past Marist into the semifinals.
Siena College was waiting for NYU in the semifinals. Ranked first in the tournament, Siena had won the SECHL championships the previous two years.
Siena's offense came out smoking, and with seven minutes left in the second half, Siena was ahead 6-3. Siena defenseman Greg Kamph had already scored a hat trick. All signs were pointing to NYU's demise.
But then NYU goalie Jay Lee showed why he was named to the All-SECHL first team. After giving up six goals in 33 minutes, Lee shut Siena out for the rest of the game.
With Lee blocking the goal like a wall, the NYU offense finally came alive. Down 6-3 going into the final period, NYU showed tremendous heart and tied the score to force overtime. Neither team scored in the first overtime, but in the second Branden once again came up huge, scoring the game-winner.
"That performance in the third period was terrific and gutsy," NYU Head Coach Stephen Hetherman said. "It was gritty. They just would not give up."
But NYU just did not have enough left to win against second seed Central Connecticut in the finals. After two overtime victories, the injuries and fatigue finally caught up with them. With the score 5-1 after two periods, NYU could not muster enough energy for another comeback.
"We were exhausted," Hetherman said. "We only had five defenseman — we played two and a half to three lines the whole weekend. Central had everyone."
While NYU came just short of the Super East Championship, they have an opportunity to play for the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Champion-ship this coming week. The ACHA tournament format has four pools of teams with four teams in each pool. Each team will play the other teams in its individual pool, and the winners of each pool will face-off to decide the tournament champion.
Once again, conditioning will play a major part in whether the team is successful, as the eventual champion must play five games in four consecutive days.
Hetherman expects to have a full team competing at the national championships, but that may not be enough. In NYU's pool, they will have to face Big Ten goliaths Michigan State and Indiana University, as well as the University of Utah.
"I know it's going to be tough, but I'm optimistic," Hetherman said. "If we compete the way we did against Siena, we have a shot at beating anyone in the tournament."
The ACHA National Championship starts this Wednesday. The championship round takes place on Saturday.