The schools were the same, the sport was not.
The Rocky Mountain Showdown swapped out cleats for skates and a football for a puck this past weekend as the Colorado State Division I men’s club ice hockey team competed in a home-and-home series with the University of Colorado. The Rams would go on to win both games.
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The series began Friday night in Boulder, then shifted back up to Fort Collins on Saturday night, where CSU hosted their annual “Greek Night” for the rivalry. The second leg of the series also marked the last home game of the season for CSU as their attention begins to shift towards the ACHA national tournament.
Colorado State was able to grind out a 4-2 win in Boulder in front of a sold out crowd in the CU student rec center Friday night.
The Buffaloes dominated puck possession for the majority of the first period and created more chances. Despite having to chase the puck around, Colorado State opened up the scoring with a quick goal. CSU responded with back-to-back goals however to take a 2-1 lead.
After a scoreless second period, CSU scored three unanswered goals to retake the lead 4-2. Danny Matrosic, Chandler Yoder and two from Hunter Clark, who scored the game winner, were able to find the back of the net for CSU in the matchup.
“This is my third year playing in this barn, getting that game winner was very surreal,”Clark said after the game. “As a team everyone played their heart out. I was just lucky enough to get that last goal.”
CSU goalie Dax Deadrick had a big weekend in goal for the Rams. Deadrick’s play in net ultimately led to CSU picking up two key wins as the season begins to wind down. Deadrick was able to help the Rams secure a 5-4 shootout win in Fort Collins Saturday night.
“CU is a really skilled team,” CSU head coach Jeff Degree said. “They play a very fast game, our group needs to contain them as much as possible and they did a good job with that … there’s no secret about how we need to play and we’ll go out there and do it.”
Colorado State will close out the regular season in Utah next week at the University of Utah for a pair of games.
Collegian sports reporter Evan Grant can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @EvanNGrant
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