Tuohy’s goal in semi-final OT sends Broncos’ hockey to championship match against Notre Dame

By Erik Masingill ’12
THE ROUNDUP

The Brophy hockey team faced off in its first state championship bout March 28, but the Notre Dame Prep Saints topped the Broncos 7-1.

The No. 1 seeded Broncos at 15-7-2 took on the No. 1 seeded Notre Dame at 21-2-1. The Saints were on a 10 game win streak  going into the game combining both the regular season and the playoffs. The last game they did not win was a tie with the Broncos Jan. 24.

The other game the two teams played each other in was Nov. 8 and the Saints won that matchup 5-3.

“With the experience of such an emotional playoff run, I beleive the boys have what it takes to be in the show (the championship game) once again,” Michael Weinberger ’10 wrote in an e-mail about next season’s prospects.

To get to the state matchup, the Broncos stopped a 10 game Pinnacle winning streak to become the Arizona runner ups.

In the regular season, Pinnacle hockey defeated the Broncos during all three matchups (5-2, 2-0, and 5-3).

However, it was the Brophy skaters that came out on top March 27 in overtime against Pinnacle with Tanner Tuohy ’13 scoring the game-winning goal.

The victory also qualified the Broncos to play in Nationals at Chicago.

Both goalies shut out each other’s team in three periods.

Brophy goalie Nicholas Oleson ’11 had 24 saves on 24 shots on goal while Pinnacle goalie Matt Hill saved 33 pucks out of 34 shots on goal.

Although Brophy bested Pinnacle in penalty minutes (24-12), they took advantage of their five-on-four power play where Tuohy was able to shoot the game-winning goal.

At 12:49 in overtime, Brophy found themselves in some trouble when the puck got away and went to the Pioneers’ sticks.

Two Pinnacle skaters went down the rink covered by one Bronco. The puck was passed back between the two to enable a free shot at the goal.

Oleson was able to spread out his legs to deflect the puck from heading in.

That was the last shot Pinnacle took, and at 8:40 left Michael Weinberger ’10 brought the puck down to the right side of the net, and gave it to Tuohy on the left side.

Hill was too far on the right, and that gave Tuohy the chance to capitalize.

“I was hoping to God that Hill would not slide over to the left to stop my shot,” Tuohy said.

“After it went in, I only thought about jumping up to hit the glass and start celebrating with my team,” Tuohy added.

Assistant coach Mr. Mike Ricci said the team matched well with Pinnacle going up and down the rink.

“Pinnacle is a fast transition team,” Mr. Ricci added.

“In order to beat them, we had to be even with them in their speed and transition. When it was lights off, we would play defense. If it was lights on, it would be offense. Whichever team that did that would end up winning the game,” Mr. Ricci said.