The pizza was old, delivered the day before.
Austan Bellefeuille's final college hockey game actually lasted the length of two – plus another 15 minutes.
The graduate student at Curry College assisted on a third-period goal on Saturday night that tied his team’s game with No. 1 seed Hobart College at 3-3 in an NCAA Division III quarterfinal in Geneva, New York.
“Little did we know we were going to be playing another four periods of hockey at that point,” Bellefeuille, a Framingham native, said Monday afternoon.
The teams ended up playing into Sunday morning. Hobart won the game with 4 minutes and 43 seconds remaining in the fourth overtime in a game that included 149 shots on goal, 162 faceoffs and 98 saves by Curry goalie Shane Soderwall.
The length of the game – 135 minutes, 17 seconds – ranks second in Division III history, only behind the 138:38 that Gusavus and Augsburg played in 2010. Only four Division I games have lasted longer, including the record 1:51:42 that UMass and Notre Dame played in a 5-OT game in 2015.
“It was one of the craziest games I ever played in,” said Bellefeuille, who after eating the not-so-fresh pizza went to bed just before 3 a.m. “It was something out of a movie.”
Hobart (26-2-1) is the defending national champion and defeated Curry last season, also in the national quarterfinals, 5-1. On Saturday, No. 12 seeded Curry led 2-0 before the Statesmen went ahead early in the third period, leading to Bellefeuille setting up Tao Ishizuka’s tying goal with 6:45 left in regulation.
As the overtimes progressed, Bellefeuille and his teammates, despite their underdog status, remained positive. Curry’s first trip to the Frozen Four was a goal away.
“The vibes in the locker room were really good,” Bellefeuille said. “Our trainer was giving us tons of electrolyte packages to keep us hydrated. Everybody on the team had the same belief that we were going to pull it off and get it done and that kept our energy and spirits pretty high in those intermissions.”
“Once we tied it up and got to overtime, we were one shot away from the Frozen Four,” said Curry coach Peter Roundy. “So, it was easy to see why our guys were so motivated to give it their all. It was a once-in-a-lifetime game to be a part of.”
Hobart will play on Thursday in the national semifinals against Utica in Hartford. Trinity College is also in the field and includes sophomore defenseman Kevin Mackay of Franklin.
“It still stings a bit, especially since it was my last ever college hockey game, but we fully believe that we left it all out there,” Bellefeuille said. “I think we earned a lot of respect in the D3 hockey world. I think (Hobart is) the best team in the country. I think they’re probably going to win again, but you hang your hat on that: taking the best team in the country to quadruple overtime.”
Austan Bellefeuille’s brain injury led to ‘different outlook’
Bellefeuille played two seasons of hockey at Framingham High School under coach Paul Spear before transferring to the Hoosac School in Hoosick Falls, New York, where he made the all-conference team as a senior. He played three seasons at Nichols College and two at Curry.
But his life changed in 2012 when, as a 13-year-old, Bellefeuille was struck in the back of the head by a baseball before a tournament game in Belmont. He underwent emergency surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and suffered a traumatic brain injury, leading to months in either the hospital or rehab. He missed a year of playing hockey but made a full recovery.
A year without hockey:More than a mere revival
As a Framingham High sophomore, Bellefeuille helped the Flyers to the No. 3 seed in the MIAA South sectional and 16 wins. He wore the same No. 13 that had been retired in honor of his uncle, Blake Bellefeuille, who was inducted into the Boston College Hall of Fame and played with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League.
“Austan always had the skills to be an excellent athlete and his head injury produced some serious setbacks and difficult times that most people wouldn’t have been able to recover from,” said Spear, currently Framingham’s athletic director. “His resilience and grit have really shown.”
Bellefeuille ran and raised money for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts at last summer’s Falmouth Road Race. His mother Karen Dmohowski, a nurse, also ran the race, an experience that is part of her son’s new viewpoint.
“I definitely had a different outlook on life after (the injury),” Bellefeuille said. “I consider myself extremely lucky. Not a lot of people that had the injury that I had were able to return to sports or were the same person before their injury.”
“He has a very unique life story and as a result, has a great perspective on life,” Roundy said.
Career in law enforcement, pro career next
Bellefeuille earned his undergraduate degree in the fall, majoring in criminal justice. He is currently taking graduate courses at Curry and plans on a career in law enforcement, with the goal of working for the Boston Police Department or state police.
He said Framingham Police Officer Kathy McGrath, a veteran of 37 years, helped inspire his career choice.
"She helped me through some tough times in middle school,” Bellefeuille said. “I’ve always had an admiration for law enforcement and first responders.”
Bellefeuille wants a crack at pro hockey first, most likely in Europe. If he lands with a team overseas, he’ll have quite the tale to tell about his final college game.
“It’s an absurd game you can never forget. It was just period after period after period,” he said. “It’s definitely something that this group of guys and myself personally will remember for a long time.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
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