Less than one year after helping Adrian College win its first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship on the very same ice, Ruffin netted the game-winning goal to lift the United States men’s hockey team to a 4-3 overtime victory against Japan in their Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games semifinal match on Saturday, Jan. 21.

“My linemate Jaunich got the puck and kind of rolled up high in the zone. Two guys kind of collapsed in the middle and the puck came right to me,” Ruffin said.

Ruffin then blasted the puck past the low glove side of Japan’s goaltender, Eiki Sato, to send the U.S. to the men’s gold medal game against Canada at 5:10 p.m. Sunday.

“It was the whole team’s night,” Ruffin said. “I just happened to be there at the right time, right moment and it went. But it was a team effort. I’m super grateful.”

With the U.S. leading 3-2 around the halfway point of the third period, it seemed like it was all but certain the team had the game locked up. That was until Japan’s Ryosuke Miura netted the equalizer on the powerplay, which sent the game to overtime.

“I thought (Japan) executed almost perfectly,” U.S. head coach Mark Taylor said. “They certainly did on the powerplay. We haven’t given up too many shorthanded goals in the whole tournament and they picked us pretty good.”

The U.S. opened the scoring when Austin Master scored less than two minutes into the game. The goal was set up by Zachary Heintz, who collected the puck in the neutral zone before making the pass to Master in front of the net.

Around the midway point of the first period, Luke Aquaro extended the U.S’s lead on the penalty kill when he netted a saucer pass from Matthew Hanewall.

Trailing 2-0, Japan took advantage of the 5-on-3 man power play, scoring back-to-back goals from Shunta Kimura and Manato Sasanaka to tie the game. Sasanaka’s goal was scored on a 5-on-4 power play.

“We went in there with the mentality to not get any penalties,” Ruffin said. “But you can’t control what the refs are going to call. They capitalized on their chance but I think five-on-five, we’re a little bit more dominant in that area.”

With just 13.8 seconds left in the first period, U.S. defenseman Brendan Mark rifled the puck over the right shoulder of the Japanese goaltender to retake the lead. The game would remain scoreless until Miura sent the game to overtime.

Japan’s Sato recorded 45 saves in net, while Ryan Kenny had 20 stops for the U.S.

While the U.S. managed to pull out a win, Taylor said he thought his team could’ve played better.

“I think we learned a lot from this about ourselves and what we have to do for our next game. We’ll be better for it,” Taylor said. “Fortunately for us the puck ended on our captain’s stick.”

With the win, the U.S. is now guaranteed to leave the Games with a medal, marking the first time since the 1972 edition of the Games – which was also the last time Lake Placid hosted the FISU Games — that the U.S. men’s hockey has medalled. The 1972 U.S. team won a bronze medal.

Taylor said winning a medal means a lot to him.

“It makes a statement about a lot of the good cultures of hockey. The guys here, their teams back home are winning and we’re winning here,” Taylor said. “It shows that if you have a good team culture and you’ve got good character team you can get it done when some guys are not around.”

For Japan, the team will still have an opportunity to win a medal. The team will play in the bronze medal game against Kazakhstan at 11:05 a.m. Sunday.