After a face paced first 7:27 of period one, with each team going up and down the ice, Greg Sommesi threw a shot on net from the left circle that DePaul goaltender Rudy Hodgson could not control. Fortunately, for RMU’s Anthony Trankina sitting in the slot, the puck came right to his stick and he promptly buried the puck in the back of the net, giving RMU a 1-0 lead.

 

DePaul went on their first power play of the night at the 14:15 mark when RMU’s Graham Walsh was whistled for an interference penalty. However, their man advantage lasted for only 61 seconds before Michael Helf took a slashing call for DePaul. During the ensuing 4-on-4, Ryan Marciniak took a feed from AJ Kapcheck, while splitting the DePaul defenders, giving Marciniak a breakaway. He finished off the showdown with Hodgson by slipping the puck, which had just enough steam to break the goal line, five hole. So, with four minutes left in the first stanza RMU took a two goal lead.

 

Helf was once again sent to the penalty box with 35.1 seconds left in the period, this time for slashing. After the final seconds had ticked off the clock, RMU went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

 

DePaul killed off the remaining time on Helf’s penalty to start the second period, keeping the deficit at two goals. Then at the 8:48 mark, Kapcheck went the length of the ice and as he was about to hit the DePaul goal line stuck his stick between his legs to make a pass to Graham Walsh, who then increased the RMU lead to three.

 

Walsh was not finished and 1:23 later tickled the twine a second time after rifling a forehand into the upper glove corner. Assisting on Walsh’s second goal was Zac Carbine.

 

A fifth unanswered goal went up on the scoreboard with 6:54 left in the second period as Trankina was the beneficiary after Hodgson had fallen to the ice, giving him an open net to score his second goal of the game; credited with an assist was Kyle Werniak. At the next whistle Hodgson’s day was over and John Schuler came in to finish the game. DePaul had an opportunity to remove the goose egg from the scoreboard with 1:09 to go but Michael Newberger came up with a huge stop on a DePaul breakaway. As the horn sounded, signaling 40 minutes in the books, RMU held a commanding 5-0 lead.

 

The third period was a penalty filled affair as the animosity between these two teams boiled to the surface. Coming out of a 3-on-3, making it a 5-on-4 in favor of RMU, Elliott Fafinski attempted a pass into the slot from the left corner, but the pass never reached its intended target. However, the puck ended up being deflected off a DePaul defensemen’s stick and into the net, putting RMU up by six with 6:42 to go in regulation.

 

Another flurry of penalties at the 16:27 mark gave DePaul a 4-on-3 man advantage. DePaul used the power play to finally get on the board when Helf rifled a pass to Nicholas Feldman, who had set up camp in front of Newberger, which N. Feldman tipped over Newberger’s right shoulder at 17:16. As the final horn sounded, RMU emerged with a 6-1 victory and a spot in the semifinals for the fifth straight season.