May. 14th, 2004 - Illegal Stick Penalty Costs Texas, UMD Rallies Late
FENTON, MO - An illegal stick call in the fourth quarter and a running clock may have cost the Texas Longhorns their final consolation game in St. Louis. Due to rain and soggy conditions, the MDIA tournament had to be changed to accommodate all the games that needed to be played on Friday and Saturday. The tourney's remaining consolation games were shortened to 12 minute quarters and all had mandatory ending times (to allow the remaining semifinals to be played in their entirety). This situation, compounded with a key illegal stick penalty in the fourth quarter ultimately cost LSA champs their final 2004 contest in St. Louis.
The Horns jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead, paced by three Rudy Perales goals. But as the rain steadied, so did the Bulldogs. UMD managed to cut the lead in half on a Jon Champ goal, at 4-2 with just 10.3 seconds left in the quarter. UMD continued that momentum swing into the second quarter as they were able to score three unanswered goals in a six minute stretch in the middle of the quarter and gained a 5-4 lead before Texas scored to even the count at five apiece heading into the half.
The teams, due to time constraints, took a timeout like halftime break, and quickly resumed the action. The rain continued to come down and the wind picked up to cause colder conditions. Texas had opened a two goal lead halfway through the third when Longhorn Ben Sklar was flagged for a slash. With the rain coming down, even Sklar looked for cover in penalty box under the scores table's tent covering.
"It's freezing out there," added the sophomore from Round Rock, TX from under the covering.
The 7-5 Texas lead proved to be their last of their contest and year. Duluth ended their third quarter scoring with a Dan O'Donnell EMO goal, to cut the lead to 7-6 heading into the final period.
Then the game changed drastically. Longhorn middie Justin Bedard picked off a clearing pass and was able to capitalize on the interception icing the shot and putting the Horns up with a huge two goal lead with 9:05 left in the game. But UMD Head Coach Rob Graff called for stick check. Bernard's stick was found to be altered and a three minute unreleaseable illegal stick penalty was called. This also resulted in the goal being taken off the board, and the score remaining 7-6.
"A couple of our guys noticed that the player's stick had had some ridges that had been taken off, that means the stick had been altered. They told me and we waited until he scored a goal," explained UMD Head Coach Rob Graff after the game.
Texas Head Coach Noah Fink also called for a stick check on UMD's Dan O'Donnell, but the stick was found to be legal. The Bulldogs were able to tie the game, with Bud Alcorn finishing a fast break goal with 7:34 left in the game. But Texas' stubborn defense and illegal procedure call on an UMD clear enabled Texas to kill the penalty only allowing one goal. But the emotional shift of the stick check was evident. Duluth's Alcorn scored his second and final goal of the game with 4:43 left to give UMD a one goal lead. The game switched to running time a minute later in order to keep the tournament schedule on track (both coaches were informed before the game that game needed to be finished by 9:30 A.M.). UMD then gained possession of the ball, called timeout with just over three minutes remaining (the clock was stopped during the timeout) and set up a crucial play which resulted in the eventual winning goal. Graff explained the play.
"We took the timeout because we had along stick coming over and we didn't want to lose possession. Noah's (Fink) a great coach. My guess was that he was going to lock off adjacent. So we got our second team All-American (Ben Uzlik) out there."
Uzlik was hurt in the Florida State game on Tuesday, but elected to play in the last game of his collegiate career.
"This morning I woke up, there was a little pain, but I said I'd go through warm-ups. If I couldn't push off my foot I was going to take myself out, I didn't want to be a liability to my team in my last game," explained Uzlik.
As for the goal that became the eventual game winner, Uzlik tried to explain what happened.
"I got the ball, and I short stick on me. I had the green light if I had a short stick. I went and the slide didn't come so I had the whole net. I just had to pick my spot."
Texas was able to cut the lead to one with: 25 left on an Andrew Matthews goal. But time was not on UT's side and the game ended on a Perales desperation shot from midfield that sailed wide. UT Head Coach Noah Fink commented on the frustrating loss, especially with the switch to running time.
"I certainly think we would have had the time to come back. I think that you have to deal with what you've got. We all knew that the game had to be finished by 9:30, personally though, I think that the seniors feel a little robbed. They came to the National Tournament to get in three full games."
Perales, playing in his last collegiate game reflected on all the Horns accomplished during his time in Austin.
"When I first started (At Texas) the competition level really wasn't that hot. No one really seemed to take games seriously until the big game, against A&M.; Even for the competition against the teams from California, no one was really pumped up. Over the years the competition level got really serious. We made a goal at the beginning of the year to take games seriously. We took the LSA Championship really seriously; we wanted to beat A&M.; It was really nice to win that last LSA Championship before we left."