OKLAHOMA 10,
TEXAS TECH 4
The 5th-ranked University of Oklahoma® Hockey club completed its 2008-2009 regular season with a 10-4 pounding of Texas Tech on Sunday evening at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Playing as part of a NHL/ACHA doubleheader, the Sooners and Red Raiders took to the ice after the Montreal Canadiens beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 in the first half of the double dip.
Tech came out ready to defend their American Airlines Center Big XII Challenge Cup and took a quick 1-0 lead nearly four minutes into the game. Sooners forward Kyle Allan (Flagstaff, AZ) tied the game at the 6:09 mark with a power play goal and forward Owen Brewer (Kenai, AK) gave the Sooners a 2-1 lead with another power play tally at 8:54 of the opening period. Tech scored a power play goal of its own near the end of the first period to send the teams to the first intermission tied 2-2.
The Red Raiders took a 3-2 lead with a goofy floater of a shot from the neutral zone that found its way into the OU net. The wacky goal woke the Sooners' offense up as they unloaded on the Texas Tech net for the remainder of the period, scoring four goals. Forward Justin King (DeWitt, MI) scored at the 12:21 mark to tie the game at three goals apiece. Forward Adrian Borchgrevink (Kenai, AK) scored the first of his three goals on the evening at 15:04 to make it a 4-3 game. Forward Daryl Dee (Garland, TX), playing in his first game for OU since returning from representing the United States at the 2009 Winter World University Games in Harbin, China, scored at 17:50 to increase the OU lead to two goals and Allan scored his second power play goal of the night with 19 seconds left in the period to make it a 6-3 game after 40 minutes of play.
Borchgrevink scored just under two minutes into the third period to make the score 7-3. Tech countered with a power play goal near the midway point of the stanza to tighten the game at 7-4 but the Sooners countered just eight seconds later when defenseman Brian Wright (Plano, TX) snuck in on the back side and redirected the puck into the Tech net at 10:04 of the period. Borchgrevink completed his hat trick at the 11:01 mark to make it a 9-4 game and then all heck broke loose. A Tech player was checked into and over the boards, ending up in the Sooners bench and when he returned to the ice, he and his fellow Red Raiders took umbrage and started some physicalities. The end result was two Tech players tossed for fighting and three Sooners sent off early for various misconducts but the fun was just beginning. While the officials were sorting out the penalties, Texas Tech goaltender Michael Pruneau skated the length of the ice to engage Sooners 'tender Colin Sablotny (Plano, TX). Sablotny obliged and made the Red Raider goalie immediately regret his decision as Sablotny thoroughly pounded Pruneau, ending up with a quick and decisive TKO decision. Once order was restored, the teams got back to playing hockey and Brewer scored his second of the evening with 6:25 to go in the game. When all was said and done, the Sooners won the American Airlines Center Big XII Challenge Cup with the 10-4 victory and promptly hit the road back home to Norman.
Sooners goaltenders Matt Pombo (Allen, TX) and Sablotny split duties in net during the game. Pombo stopped 11 of 14 shots and Sablotny stopped 5 of 6 before being ejected with Pombo returning in net to finish out the game. Tech goalie Pruneau stopped only 34 of 43 shots, perhaps helping him to decide to try to go out in a blaze of glory by challenging Sablotny, and Brant MacQuoid stopped 3 of 4 in relief of the battered Pruneau. Oklahoma was 3 for 12 on the power play while Tech was 2 for 12 with the man advantage.
Oklahoma heads off to Nationals with a record of 29-7-2 while Texas Tech finishes its season with a 7-22-1 record. The Sooners face No. 12 Kent State on Saturday evening at the 2009 ACHA D1 National Championship Tournament in suburban Cleveland.
Oklahoma 2 - 4 - 4 -- 10
Texas Tech 2 - 1 - 1 -- 4
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, TT, Brown (Mayoux), 3:41; 2, OU, Allan (Martin, Miller), 6:09 (pp); 3, OU, Brewer (Borchgrevink), 8:54 (pp); 4, TT, Kuzski (Griffith), 18:25 (pp). Penalties: TT, Griffith (cross-checking), 5:13; TT, Seidel (hooking), 7:04; OU, Smith (roughing), 14:08; TT, Parisi (roughing), 14:08; OU, Gebbie (contact to head), 16:59; OU, Nicolaou (holding), 18:20.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, TT, Kuzski (unassisted), 4:44; 6, OU, King (Smith, Bryant), 12:21; 7, OU, Borchgrevink (Brewer), 15:04; 8, OU, Dee (King), 17:50; 9, OU, Allan (Martin, King), 19:41 (pp). Penalties: OU, Rombach (roughing), 5:17; TT, Pruneau (slashing), 5:43; TT, Griffith (roughing), 5:53; TT, Brown (slashing), 8:15; OU, Gebbie (tripping), 14:07; TT, McKinney (hooking), 14:50; TT, Ramsey (high sticking), 15:21; TT, Parisi (roughing, roughing), 18:16; OU, Gebbie (roughing), 18:16.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 10, OU, Borchgrevink (Brewer), 1:56; 11, TT, Novak (Kamp), 9:56 (pp); 12, OU, Wright (Martin, King), 10:04; 13, OU, Borchgrevink (King), 11:01; 14, OU, Brewer (Miller), 13:35. Penalties: OU, King (delay of game), 3:58; OU, Martin (cross-checking), 4:16; TT, Brown (hooking), 4:44; OU, Johnson (roughing), 5:33; OU, Miller (boarding), 6:09; OU, bench (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Deines), 6:09; TT, Lomax (interference), 8:11; OU, McCauley (tripping), 9:40; OU, Hayden (roughing, roughing, ten-minute misconduct), 12:00; OU, Gebbie (roughing, roughing, ten-minute misconduct), 12:00; OU, Sablotny (fighting major, game disqualification), 12:00; OU, Deines (game misconduct), 12:00; TT, Chao (instigation, fighting major, game disqualification), 12:00; TT, Kuenzle (instigation, fighting major, game disqualification), 12:00; TT, Pruneau (fighting major, game disqualification), 12:00; TT, Kollaritsch (tripping), 15:22.
Shots on goal:
Oklahoma 13 20 14 - 47
Texas Tech 7 7 6 - 20
Goalies: OU, Pombo (14 shots, 11 saves), Sablotny (6,5); TT, Pruneau (43, 34), MacQuoid (4,3). Referee: Johnston. Linesmen: Henderson, Nebe.
