Sports
Tigers Fall in Frozen Four Semifinals
St. Louis University High scores two empty net goals in a 4-2 win Saturday night to sweep the best-of-two-series.
The memorable 2011-12 hockey season for Oakville ended Saturday night at the Hardee's IcePlex.
The Tigers fell to St. Louis University High 4-2 in the second game of the best-of-two series. The Junior Bills had , 5-3 on a pair of third period goals by Chase Berger. Steve Farina scored twice for the Tigers.
The scores are very deceptive as SLUH scored an empty net goal with five seconds left in game one and added two empty net goals in the final 65 seconds Saturday night as the Tigers needed a win, not a tie, to force a mini-game.
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"We are shocked right now," said Tiger senior Tommy Heinzman. "We were so close but came up just short. There is not one player on this team that should have any regrets. Nobody could have done any more than they did. Our goalie (Zach Jost) was huge. This was just the greatest four years. I hope the guys coming back can win it next year."
Heinzman gave Oakville an early 1-0 lead in a game in which all of the real scoring (with the exception of the two empty net goals) came in the opening period.
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Nicholas Walters and Trent Lulow scored 2:18 apart midway through the first period. Jost was able to stone the Junior Bills the rest of the way.
Andrew Kovacich tied the game late in the first period but the Tigers could never get the lead despite a pair of power play opportunities in the third period.
Daniel Warnecke and Lulow added the late empty net goals for the Junior Bills.
"I'm happy except for the four squids our fans threw on the ice," SLUH coach Charlie Busenhart said. "Oakville is a very good team. The top four teams which were predicted at the beginning of the season made it to the semifinals."
SLUH will face rival CBC in the Challenge Cup championship game March 7 at the Scottrade Center.
The season ends abruptly for the Tigers.
"This was what you would expect from a semifinal game," Oakville coach Derek Stephens said. "It came down to a bounce here and a bounce there. I am so proud of the effort that these guys gave. They gave everything they had. It's a special group of guys. We came together as a family and they left it all out on the ice. We have seven seniors who are all very special. We will miss them but the rest of us have to learn from this and move on."
Check out more photos from the game on our Facebook page.
