By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The game was long over, the players had gone through the customary handshake line and the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers had given the traditional salute to the Corner Crew and were solemnly filing down the runway to their dressing room.
Chase Norrish lingered on the ice, however, as if to delay as long as possible the final walk down the tunnel in his No. 8 RIT uniform.
A career that began with such glory, such splendor, ended in heartache and sporting agony for Norrish and the three other seniors who were in uniform for the weekend.
The Tigers were eliminated from the Atlantic Hockey playoffs on Sunday night, losing the deciding game of the best-of-three opening-round series 2-0 to Sacred Heart. RIT won 5-4 in overtime in Game 1 on Friday. Sacred Heart rebounded to win Game 2 on Saturday night, 4-3 in triple overtime.
The perform-or-go-home deciding game wasn’t even close. Sacred Heart took the lead midway through the first period on a wrap-around goal by Mike Crocock, scored again during a two-man advantage in the final minute of the first on Austin McIlmurray’s one-timer, and controlled every facet of the game the rest of the way.
“You can’t even comprehend all the thoughts that rush through your head,” Norrish said of his post-game on-ice reflection. “You can’t really believe that it happened, that it ended.”
Especially considering how his career at RIT began. He and twin brother Brady (who suffered a season-ending injury the second week of this season), plus fellow seniors Myles Powell and Matt Abt, were key components as freshman for the Tigers. That 2014-15 team upended top-rated Minnesota State-Mankato in the NCAA Midwest Regional before losing in the region finale.
In 2015-16, as sophomores, they helped the Tigers again win Atlantic Hockey and reach the East Regional.
Their senior season ended far, far too early, in the first round, and long before they could ever get back downtown to play in the AHA final four.
Which is why Norrish was still in uniform a good 20 minutes afterward the final buzzer.
“This is a big part of my life I’m leaving behind,” he said.
His classmates knew how he felt.
“When I took my jersey off, I kind of realized it’s the last time I’m going to take it off,” winger Max Mikowski said.
But it’s not as though the Tigers could say they didn’t deserve this fate. They finished the season 15-20-2, and a rather astounding 6-13 at the Gene Polisseni Center. They were 6-13 on home ice last season as well.
And they went without a goal for 117 minutes, 50 seconds against the Sacred Heart in the series, failing to score in the finale.
“Our record says what it is — we weren’t good enough,” coach Wayne Wilson said. “We were very, very inconsistent all season long in a lot of things, and we just never got it going.”
On both Friday and Saturday very little separated the Tigers and Pioneers. It’s not like one team dominated for long stretches, or one goalie — Logan Drackett for RIT, Brett Magnus for Sacred Heart — made great save after great save.
But on Sunday, the Pioneers were clearly the better team. They built the early lead, watched as the Tigers took a series of foolish penalties, and then were content to protect the 2-0 cushion in the third.
“When it comes down to it, they had more of a desire to win than us,” Abt said. “They’re not better than us, but they wanted it more.”
Which is why the loss was so painful for Abt, one of the captains, as he reflected afterward.
“There were a lot of emotions,” he said. “I was mad, I was sad; just a flurry of emotions.”
That’s because none of them thought it would end like this, in the first round, on home ice.
“Your senior year, you want it to be the best year,” Wilson said. “But you don’t get to pick and choose.”
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