Jeramy Razaeepour scored four of the Miners’ five second period goals to help UTEP cruise past Texas Tech, 7-1. UTEP advances to the first ever Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference championship where they will face the Dallas Baptist Patriots tomorrow at Noon.
The Miners defeated the Red Raiders by a combined score of 27-3 in a two-game set earlier last month.
UTEP started the game slow in the first period with missed shots off a couple of breakaways and some great saves by Texas Tech goalie James Jowett, who allows an average of 4.22 goals per game.
“We got out to a slow start,” said head coach Tom Herman. “It was a little bit of a feel out process but we stuck to our game plan, we used our speed and physical play to help us get going, that’s when we found the back of the net.”
The Miners and Red Raiders came out hitting hard with both teams receiving 10 penalties each in the contest.
UTEP went on the power-play with six minutes remaining in the first period and used the advantage to get on the board for the first time. Dominik Taras passed the puck to Nicholas Howell behind the net, who then passed a beauty to Lucas Znosko, scoring his 43rd goal of the season.
The Miners got back on the board quickly into the second period as Razaeepour scored just eight seconds in. Later in the period, the Miners went on frenzy scoring three goals in the final 10 minutes.
UTEP led 6-0 at the end of the second period.
Texas Tech finally got on the board at the 14-minute mark of the third period from a goal by Austin Schriver. The Miners added one final goal with 17 seconds remaining in the final period from Joshua Baeza to put the icing on the cake.
UTEP goalie Aleksander Lazarski did his part guarding the net with 35 saves in the game bringing his total number of saves on the season to an impressive 774. Lazarski really got the crowd excited using his back to earn a huge save, stopping the puck from crossing the line with just seven seconds remaining in the second period.
Lazarski earned an assist this afternoon. Off a deflection, Lazarski passed the puck across the ice to Jon Sanca who then passed to Razaeepour who found the back of the net, scoring his second goal of the game at the time.
The Miners were led this season by Razaeepour and Znosko, who together combined for 80 goals and 148 points for UTEP during the regular season.
Tonight, Razaeepour finished with four goals, bringing his point total for the season to 79 points. Znosko finished with one goal, two assists for a total of three points in the game, summing up his total number of points on the season to 78.
“Jeramy had a hot stick today, we got the puck on net and helped him get good looks that helped him find the back of the net,” Herman said.
Howell added two assists and Taras added three for the Miners in the win.
The Miners will be without defensemen Storm Evans in the championship game tomorrow. Evans seemed to have aggravated his knee during the third period of the game, Evans dislocated that same knee earlier this season.
The one-seeded UTEP Miners will now face the two-seeded Dallas Baptist Patriots for the Championship game tomorrow at noon. UTEP met Dallas Baptist Dec. 2-3, the Miners won both games 7-3, 6-5.
“We’re feeling pretty confident, we played Dallas Baptist earlier this season and we know they are pretty skilled and talented,” Herman said. “We’re going to have to bring our best game.”
