RIT stuns Minnesota State

SOUTH BEND, Indiana – If you've crashed the big dance, you better be able to dance with the stars, right?

Guess what? The Rochester Institute of Technology hockey team can cut a sheet of ice.

The Tigers once again played giant killer in the NCAA Tournament, stunning college hockey by upending top-seeded Minnesota State 2-1 Saturday evening in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

"It's an upset, it's 1 against 16, but it's not a big miracle," Tigers coach Wayne Wilson said afterward.

Josh Mitchell's goal with 5:09 to play broke a 1-1 tie, though it took about five minutes of real-life time for the scoreboard at Compton Family Ice Arena to reflect it.

The goal was initially disallowed by the referee because it appeared contact between Tigers center Matt Garbowsky and Mavericks defenseman Zach Palmquist in the deep slot forced the defender into the goalie.

Goalie Stephon Williams fell as Palmquist tumbled into him and, at the same time, Mitchell was firing a shot from the right circle into the now mostly open net.

But following a video review of about two to three minutes, the referee decided he was wrong and reversed his call.

RIT agreed. Minnesota State did not. Go figure.

"I didn't really do that much, I was just going to the net hard," Garbowsky said. "As the ref was coming out of the penalty box, he mouthed something. I couldn't tell if it was good goal or no goal."

Bad call, the Mavericks were saying.

"I definitely feel the RIT player did push me into the goalie," Palmquist said.

Said coach Mike Hastings: "I started playing hockey at 6. I'm 49 now. That's a tough one to swallow."

Both, however, were quick to credit the Tigers.

"Congratulations to RIT," Palmquist said. "They played hard. It was a good-fought win."

Said Hastings: "I take nothing away from RIT. They earned it. They found a way to win. They deserve to move on."

And so the Tigers (20-14-5) do move on. They will play Nebraska-Omaha in Sunday's 7:34 p.m. title game. The winner goes to the Frozen Four in Boston on April 9 and 11.

Is it 2010 all over again? That year, the Tigers were seeded 15th and played like a top seed, ousting Denver and New Hampshire in the East Regional. Their joyride finally ended when they lost 8-1 in the Frozen Four semifinals to Wisconsin.

This is 2015, Wilson says.

"I think where this team feels pressure is when they try to live up to 2010, and that's really unfair," Wilson said. "They've really got to write their own script.

"We had that success too early for the program as far as that's now the standard."

Minnesota State, meanwhile, can't figure out how to achieve success. The Mavericks (29-8-3) have reached the NCAA tournament three consecutive years. They've yet to win a game.

"There's a lot of pressure on the No. 1 seed," Wilson said.

Indeed, the longer the game went on with a 1-1 score and the more terrific saves goalie Jordan Ruby made, the more the Mavericks began to wonder.

On Saturday they outshot the Tigers 31-20, they attempted a whopping 96 shots (to RIT's 43).

"It all comes down to us not burying our chances," said Mavericks winger C.J. Franklin, who fired five fruitless shots at Ruby.

Ruby's biggest save may have been 9:30 into the third period on a Mavericks power play. Defenseman Jon Jutzi sauntered into the high slot and unloaded a shot that Ruby calmly smothered. He finished with 30 saves, the last on a bullet by Brad McClure off a faceoff with 1:58 left.

"I don't think he gives himself enough credit because he … makes a lot of saves look easy," Garbowsky said. "Obviously having a hot goaltender right now is a huge time to have one."

The Tigers struck early, taking a 1-0 lead 4:30 into the game on a goal by defenseman Alexander Kuqali.

Minnesota State tied the score at 10:52 of the second period, taking advantage of a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty to the Tigers.

Mitchell then provided victory with his 16th goal of the season, with linemates Brad McGowan and Garbowsky setting him up. He said it was the least he could do, considering how well Ruby played.

"It felt good to reward his play," Mitchell said.

KEVINO@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/@kevinoDandC