The Rocky Mountain Showdown moved to the ice on Thursday as the University of Colorado’s club hockey team dusted Colorado State 8-2 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
It looked like the Rams might get one early after a puck dumped in took a weird bounce off the boards and shot out in front of the CU net, leaving CU goalie Andrew Lux in the corner with an empty net for the Rams to shoot at. The Rams got a stick on it but the shot went wide.
Seconds later, the Matt Anders show started for the Buffs. Anders put the Buffs up 1-0 just 26 seconds in after a sneaky shot through the defense found its way through the five-hole of CSU goalie Michael Porter.
Anders put home his second of the night seven minutes later, finishing off a tic-tac-toe break with teammate Jake Bauer. The two found themselves all alone in front, ending with Anders putting the puck in the net.
Anders completed the hat trick with at the 8:55 mark of the first period. He found himself the benefactor of a careless Rams turnover, sliding another five-hole shot past Porter and giving the Buffs a commanding 3-0 lead.
Nicholas O’Donnell was able to get the Rams on the scoreboard about a minute later. O’Donnell got the puck in the slot and buried the puck low blocker, cutting the lead to 3-1.
“We had a pretty good forecheck,” O’Donnell said. “They turned the puck over and Neff hit me wide open in front and I was able to get it by.”
Given the nature of hockey, there is always some trash talk going on, but given these two teams dislike each other, the chirping was taken up a notch.
“Its always a heated game,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a good rivalry and fun to be apart of. It was fun.”
The high scoring affair continued in the second. Jake Bauer scored a power-play goal for CU to start the second, extending the lead to 4-1.
At one point in the second period, defense looked optional. All in a one-minute stretch, Luke Carter and Devon Pilkington netted goals for CU, and Daniel Matrosic scored a slick wrap-around goal for CSU.
“Hunter Clark made an awesome play,” Matrosic said. “He set me up down low and I just crashed the net and took a shot and was looking for a rebound and it came right back to my stick and saw the goalie wasn’t moving over so I just went for the wrap around. Good play by Clark and Davies.”
Following Pilkington’s goal, the Rams made a switch in net, pulling Michael Porter and inserting Dax Deadrick.
Other players took the blame for Porter being pulled.
“(Porter) stands on his head all year and makes fantastic plays,” Matrosic said. “We weren’t really playing too well for him so it was unfortunate but he had an unreal season so can’t blame him at all.”
The Buffs added two more in the third to finish off the Rams 8-2.
Collegian Sports Reporter Chad Deutschman can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @Chaddeutschman.
