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EAST ALTON – Edwardsville’s Connor Hinterser had two g
oals, including the game-tying goal on the power play with 7:12 remaining, as the Tigers came back from 3-0 down to tie Ladue 3-3 in their first game of the Mid-States Club Hockey Association St. Louis Blues Challenge Cup playoffs Thursday night at East Alton Ice Arena.
The game marked the first time in the 47-year history of the MSCHA that a post-season game had ever been played in Metro-East. And it didn’t start out well for the Tigers, who gave up a short-handed goal in the first period, then losing Cam Gillen to a game misconduct seconds later. But Edwardsville showed much resilience in making their comeback.
“I mean, it’s not the start we wanted to get off to,” said Tigers coach Jason Walker, “but the guys, they’re a resilient bunch. We’ve been through a lot, that’s for sure, and to come back after putting yourself in a hole, that’s a nice comeback.”
Gillen was ejected after receiving a five-minute major for boarding, but Edwardsville stayed together and rallied to earn an important point in their first game of the group stage.
“Yeah, obviously, that was a big point,” Walker said, “so, we need to keep that momentum going into Saturday.”
The talk on the Tigers bench after falling behind was to stay positive and keep working and chipping away at the Rams’ lead.
“Just two things: We need to get moving,” Walker said, “and we needed to stay out of the box. We had a couple of offensive zone penalties that we just can’t take, and it’s calm. This group believes in each other, that believes in what they’re doing, and let’s get back on track here, get the puck back in, and let’s chip away at this thing, and that’s what they did.”
The Rams did do many things well during the night, but couldn’t hold on to its lead.
“I think we did a lot of things right,” said Ladue coach Dave Broussard, “did a lot of things the right way. But the game was hard to get going; there were so many penalties on both sides that it’s hard to get in a groove. Special teams kind of dictated the game tonight, and it ended up in a tie.”
The Rams started out with the shorthanded goal, then scored once on the five-minute power play after the ejection, which gave Ladue momentum. But the Tigers were able to come back to gain the draw.
“Yeah, they worked hard,” Broussard said. “We knew it was going to be a tough battle, and they always have a good team, and when you spend as much time as we did in the box, at some point, you end up paying for it.”
Rams goalie Mac Beatrice stood tall in the nets, being peppered with 17 shots in the third period, but allowed only the equalizer, making some timely stops late in the game when Ladue needed them. But the special teams, again, played an important role.
“You know, like I said, it was kind of a special teams game,” Broussard said, “and those are not the most idea games to play. We did a lot of good things, we scored three goals, but unfortunately, we gave up three. So our goalie did a good job and gave us a chance to win, and just ended up in a tie. So we’ll move on and get ready for Chaminade.”
But getting the point was a good way to get the group stage started for Ladue.
“Absolutely,” Broussard said. “We’ll take it for sure.”
The game started out pretty evenly, as both teams had some good chances that were stopped by Beatrice and Mason Young in the Edwardsville goal. After a penalty to Spencer Giacin that left Ladue shorthanded, Evan Ross intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated in along on Young, and put the puck past him into the lower left-hand corner at 10:07 to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Then at 10:51, Gillen was called for the major for boarding and ejected on game misconduct, which gave Ladue a five-minute power play. The Rams were able to take advantage of it at 14:25 when Ross took a pass at the point from Cam Stefek and scored to give Ladue a 2-0 lead after the first period.
The Rams then took advantage of a two-man advantage after Hinterser was sent off for roughing, and Jack Sumner was sent off at the same time for unsportsmanlike conduct. Stefek got a pass from Jacob Tackes and put the puck past young at 4:17 to make the score 3-0.
It stayed 3-0 in favor of Ladue, thanks to some fine goaltending from Beatrice, who made several good saves as the Tigers started putting pressure on the goal. The pressure paid off at 10:17 when Kyle Meehan got a pass from Will Schuster and put a shot that somehow got past Beatrice and crossed the line to make it 3-1. Then with Max Deutsch off for tripping, the Tigers scored on the power play when Hinterser got a pass from Sam Gibbons and backhanded the puck into the left side of the goal at 11:09 to bring Edwardsville back to within 3-2 at the end of the second period.
When the puck dropped to start the third, the Tigers went on the offensive, peppering Beatrice with nine straight shots to get started. With Carson Acree off for tripping, the pressure paid off when Hinterser got a pass from Schuster and scored at 7:48 to tie the game at 3-3. Both teams had numerous chances to find a winner, but both Beatrice and Young stood tall in goal to preserve the draw, giving both teams a crucial point in the Red Division standings.
The Rams next play Chaminade at Queeny Park on Saturday night at 9:45 p.m., then finish group play against CBC on Feb. 4 at the Affton Athletic Association arena at 9 p.m. Broussard is taking things one game at a time.
“Well, I’m not worried about two right now, just worried about Saturday night,” Broussard said, “and we’ll just get ready for Saturday night, and we’ll go out there, and compete and always stay focused to put ourselves in a position to move forward in the next round.”
The Tigers next play Rockwood Marquette Saturday night at the Brentwood Ice Rink in a 7:45 p.m. face-off, then conclude group play Feb. 7 against DeSmet at Queeny Park in an 8:15 p.m. start. Walker is looking forward to the games, especially the critical game Saturday against the Mustangs.
“That’ll be, obviously, a big one for us,” Walker said. “Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into the game on Saturday.”
And to have the chance to advance to the Blues Cup quarterfinals for the third straight year, coinciding with the time Edwardsville has been in the league, is definitely a feather in the program’s cap.
“We’re happy with where we’re at,” Walker said, “we just, like I said, need to keep it going on Saturday,”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
