The Santa Rosa Junior College Polar Bears ice hockey team tied 3-3 in a tense American Collegiate Hockey Association overtime game versus San Jose State University’s Spartans in Santa Rosa’s home opener Oct. 22 at Snoopy’s Home Ice.
Santa Rosa (4-2-1), in the first of two straight games against San Jose and four straight at home, tied the game with 5:49 left in regulation on a goal by rookie forward Toby Petrus, younger brother of Polar Bears assistant captain and forward Jonah Petrus.
Santa Rosa’s home opener was originally scheduled to be a back-to-back on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 against Santa Clara University, but the games were canceled when Santa Clara’s club department disallowed the team from playing any games this semester.
Before the game, the Polar Bears had lost their last five games against the Spartans (0-3-1) by a combined 63-8 score. This was only their fifth non-loss in 20 games against San Jose over the last 10 years; all five games were held at Snoopy’s Home Ice.
Defenseman Angus Brodeur, captain and president of the Polar Bears and older brother of rookie defenseman Gordy Brodeur, scored the game’s first goal with an assist from rookie forward Alex Coffel 10:43 into the first period. Santa Rosa had a few more good looks at the net before the period’s end, but were unable to capitalize.
The second period started with a bang when San Jose forward Kevin Cole threw some punches at Santa Rosa players in a scrum and received one of two minor two-minute penalties for roughing on the play, the other going to Santa Rosa’s Gordy Brodeur. Cole would continue to agitate into the third period, when he tried to pick a fight with the Petrus brothers.
Five-and-a-half minutes into the second period, Santa Rosa’s Jonah Petrus had a strong shot attempt 20 feet from the net that San Jose goalie Reese Busch barely managed to stop.
Less than 20 seconds later, Polar Bears rookie defenseman Remy Caillot took a two-minute boarding penalty that Spartans defenseman Christopher Dysart retaliated against by boarding Santa Rosa’s Angus Brodeur. Dysart was given a five-minute major penalty for the play.
Angus Brodeur left the game after the hit and did not return. Behind the bench, a trainer tended to him for a right knee injury, and halfway through the game, he reappeared on the bench to support the Polar Bears from the sidelines.
“I hope this knee thing isn’t a big issue,” Angus Brodeur said. “I was devastated that I wasn’t able to help my guys on the ice, but I tried to get them buzzing any way I could.”
Santa Rosa coach Jackson Waldron called the injury “a big emotional letdown” for the team.
Three minutes into the power play, San Jose defenseman Harrison Folmar scored a shorthanded goal assisted by Cole to tie the game, but after San Jose defenseman Max Miller took a two-minute cross-checking penalty halfway through the period, Santa Rosa regained the lead on a 5-on-3 powerplay goal scored by Gordy Brodeur and assisted by Caillot and defenseman Zach Zweber.
Late in the second, Spartans forward Brendon Ewell threw an illegal check and was given a five-minute major for contact to the head and ejected from the game, but the Polar Bears were unable to score on the power play.
“They played well on the long, long power plays, but it’s unfortunate to not get a few more goals out of it,” Waldron said. Getting two five-minute power plays in one game is unusual, and so is only scoring one goal in that time.
Spartans forward Carl Roth tied the game 2-2 3:05 into the third period with an unassisted goal.
Around 12 minutes into the third, a San Jose defenseman gave the puck away to Santa Rosa forward Joshua Sampietro, who beat Busch with a shot but hit the post.
After a Zweber penalty with 9:37 left in regulation, San Jose’s Roth scored his second of the night, a power play goal from Folmar, to go up 3-2 on Santa Rosa.
The last goal of the game, scored with 5:49 left in regulation after a San Jose roughing penalty taken by Cole, was Toby Petrus’s unassisted power play goal for Santa Rosa that tied the score 3-3.
Both teams had good chances to score in the dying minutes of the third period, but the game went to overtime nonetheless.
In Santa Rosa’s first overtime game of the year, and their first 3-on-3 overtime period ever, the team was unable to score a game winner and was left wanting for more when overtime expired. The NCAA’s new rulebook, which the ACHA uses in all but a few minor circumstances, says that games outside of tournaments and conference play end in a tie instead of being decided in a shootout.
“I said to the guys in the locker room after, ‘I don’t think I’ve tied in a game since I was 10 years old,’ so there’s definitely a lack of finality and conclusiveness to it,” Waldron said. “But the good thing is — we get right back at ‘em tomorrow.”
Snoopy’s Home Ice was packed Friday with fans of both teams, but the liveliest, loudest and most colorful banter came from Polar Bear fans.
“I was really happy with the turnout to the game today and look forward to having another great crowd tomorrow,” Angus Brodeur said. “It was really amazing to see everyone’s support of the JC, and it means the world to me and the guys. We have been putting in so much work for the last couple months and we just love to see how enthusiastic the fans are to come watch us.”
Next game, Angus Brodeur wants to see more intensity from the first puck drop.
“I think with all the rookies we have on our team, nerves were definitely a factor, but we’ve played enough games that we should be able to let go of that,” he said. “I would also love to see less penalties. Obviously, we can’t control what the refs call or don’t call, but we have to have better mental and emotional control in these close games to put ourselves in a better position to win.”
The game was streamed live on YouTube by We Want The Video, a channel that livestreams Sonoma County sports.
Santa Rosa hosts San Jose again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night at Snoopy’s Home ice. Admission is $5, or free if you’re six years old or under. Tickets can be found at this link, and We Want The Video will be live streaming the game at this link.
Additional reporting by Alex Fuller.
