By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
In life, every minute is the same in terms of duration. Tick, tick, tick.
In hockey, however, a minute, or two, can sometimes seem like they’ll never end.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Just ask Rochester Institute of Technology senior center Will Calverley, who had to sit in the penalty box for the first two minutes of the third period, hoping his teammates could kill off his not-so-wise boarding penalty in a 1-1 game.
Or ask junior goalie Kolby Matthews, who faced endless pressure over the final 80 seconds with the Tigers clinging to a one-goal lead.
Matthews, however, made every save and his teammates blocked a few as well in the final minute as RIT defeated St. Lawrence University 2-1 on Saturday night in the Brick City Homecoming game at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
After an uninspiring first period in which St. Lawrence dominated but scored just once, the Tigers played a strong final 40 minutes, produced goals by Jake Joffe and Calverley and won their third consecutive Brick City game to improve to 2-1-1 on the young season.
“I think our team has potential, but I don’t think we’re playing to that potential yet,” said Matthews, who stopped 32 shots in the game.
RIT coach Wayne Wilson certainly agrees with Matthews’ assessment. But he liked the response by the Tigers over the final two periods.
“To be honest we haven’t played well up to this point,” Wilson said. “What you saw of us in the first period is how we’ve played the first three games.”
The wake-up call came from the 6,753 fans, Calverley said.
“The fans obviously do a good job getting us into the game,” he said. “They’re so passionate and they love RIT hockey.”
St. Lawrence (1-1-1) had opened a 1-0 lead just 5:13 into the game on a goal by Jordan Steinmetz, who from the right of the slot one-timed a drop pass by Aleksi Peltonen.
The score didn’t change until 11:25 of the second period, when junior winger Jake Joffe took a drop pass from Aiden Hansen-Bukata in the high slot and whistled a low wrist shot past goalie Emil Zetterquist.
But as the second period was ending, Calverley delivered a check on Steinmetz on the end wall behind the Saints net and was assessed a boarding penalty. It meant RIT would start the third period short-handed.
Not good in a 1-1 game.
“You don’t ever want to put your team in that situation,” Calverley said. “It was a bit of a dumb penalty by me, but the team did a good job killing it off.”
Just two shifts after his penalty had ended, the Tigers’ co-captain made sure his penalty was forgotten.
While on the forecheck, Calverley partially deflected a clearing try by the Saints and linemate Kobe Walker intercepted high in the St. Lawrence zone.
With a two-on-one advantage, Walker moved down the slot and then made a slick pass toward the bottom of the right circle and Calverley fired it into an open net at 5:35. He has scored one goal in all four games.
Considering Walker’s puck skills, Calverley was pretty sure he would be getting the puck.
“He’s a passer, he’s a playmaker,” said Calverley, a Second Team East All-American a year ago when he produced 12 goals, 13 assists and 25 points in 18 games of the COVID-19 shortened season.
For the next 13 minutes, the Tigers protected that lead efficiently. “Our forecheck was strong, we didn’t sit back and let them take advantage of us,” Matthews said.
The Saints did, however, mount pressure in the final two minutes, when Matthews was at his very best.
During a 10-second scramble when St. Lawrence was buzzing, Matthews made a terrific stop with his left leg on Justin Paul and then was quickly in position to stop and smother the rebound try by Ashton Fry.
“For me, it’s stay in the moment, try not to get too high or too low,” he said. “Yeah, you can get excited a little bit but then you have to focus again to make the next save.”
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