Usually when a rookie defenseman explodes for a career-best four goals in a game, it's bound to be a good day but for the Toledo Walleye Wednesday morning, it was unfortunately short of the win. The Fish fell 7-4 to the Chicago Express in a special morning game attended by over 6,000, many of which were local school children.
Bryan Rufenach was that defenseman and his four goals were quite impressive but combined with defensive struggles and no other offensive success the Walleye lost their sixth game of the season between eight contests.
The morning certainly didn't start well for the Walleye as they allowed five-consecutive goals through the first 24 minutes of play. Blair Riley opened the scoring at 4:50 of the first period as he beat Toledo goaltender Carter Hutton right in front of the net after an odd bounce off the boards. The second goal was nearly identical with Chicago's Devin DiDiomete hitting the back of the net from the same spot in front of the goal.
The sandwich stanza was much more favorable for the Fish, but it got worse before it got better. Another three goals from the Express put Toledo in a deep hole to which they never recovered.
Tyler Donati scored at 1:42 of the period, Bobby Robins followed at 2:43 and Kyle Ostrow added a third at 3:43. In an effort to settle down the players, Walleye head coach Nick Vitucci took a timeout after the second goal but it was a short-lived break from the scoring onslaught as moments later they were down 5-0.
Enter Bryan Rufenach. The rookie defenseman, who tallied only four goals in 33 games his senior season at Clarkson University, lit the lamp four times late in the game, twice on the power play.
Though he says he's not necessarily a morning person, Rufenach, who has not scored a hat trick in over 10 years, attributed the success to simplifying his game.
"I didn't really think today," he noted. "I just reacted and worked hard. I didn't worry about the little things and just worried about my job."
The valiant effort by the blue-liner did not go unnoticed, but was also joined by another goal on Carter Hutton and a late empty-net score to secure Chicago's 7-4 victory.
Seven goals is the most given up by the Walleye this year. Previously, Hutton allowed six against Kalamazoo on October 21. Hutton is not likely to see a break anytime soon either with Thomas McCollum needed by the Grand Rapids Griffins through the weekend at least.
With the loss, Toledo drops back into the bottom rung of the league standings with four points in eight games. To climb out of the basement, head coach Nick Vitucci says they need to commit to playing a good defensive game.
"We've got to get better defensively," Vitucci said after the game. "I didn't mind our competition level. They competed, they played hard. We've got offense in this locker room, though it hasn't been coming in waves like we thought it would."
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