New league. Familiar results.
St. Norbert College advanced to its ninth NCAA Division III Frozen Four in the past 12 years with a 7-2 victory over Adrian College Saturday night in an NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinal played at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights, playing in their inaugural season of the “new” NCHA, improved to 26-3-1 with the win, jumping out to a 5-0 lead midway through the second period en route to ending the Bulldogs season at 22-3-4.
Any time these teams seem to play each other, the stage is big. Whether it’s for first place in the league or in the NCAA Championship, the battles between the two squads over the past few years has grown the series into a rivalry - which is now magnified by the fact that they play in the same conference.
“We have a lot of kids who have played a lot of significant games and every time we see Adrian – every time – it’s a significant game,” SNC head coach Tim Coghlin said. “A workmanlike ‘W’ I thought tonight from our guys, which is sort of the trend for this group. This second semester has been about keeping opponents off the board.”
Back in October, the Green Knights started the year as the preseason No. 1 in the country in the national polls. The Bulldogs opened the campaign with a 15-game unbeaten streak that eventually led them to their first-ever No. 1 ranking as the consensus top team in the country in January.
“That was the first time we achieved that (the No. 1-ranking) and our goal now is to take the program to the next level,” Adrian head coach Ron Fogarty said. “We have been in the tournament four of the five years we have been eligible, but now we want to be one of those staple programs like a St. Norbert that get there year after year to the Final Four. So, it was great to be recognized in the month of January and great to play with that pressure, but next year our focus will be to get that next step.”
From there, the two teams flip-flopped places in the polls a few weeks later, but St. Norbert remained No. 1 and Adrian No. 2 for the majority of the final two months of the regular season. An impressive feat for any two teams in the country, let alone two squads from the same conference.
“Adrian had two losses on their record coming into this game and they were both to league members,” Coghlin said. “We have three losses on our record and it’s all to league members. So I think that speaks volumes about the NCHA, the quality of teams and the quality of play.”
The top spot in the NCHA ended up in the hands of the Green Knights during the regular season and, tonight in the postseason, the ending was not a different one with the hosts advancing in convincing fashion.
St. Norbert, led by a senior class that already has two national titles on its resume, thwarted off a fast start by the Bulldogs and responded loudly with two first-period goals of its own.
“When we got paired up against a league member (for the NCAA’s), we knew it was going to be a challenge,” Coghlin said. “We didn’t lose on the state-school side, we didn’t lose on the MIAC side and neither did Adrian, so when we butt head-to-head, somebody had to lose.”
The Bulldogs, who hadn’t played in two weeks but were rewarded with an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, came out flying out of the gates, getting a handful of quality opportunities in the first four minutes but were unable to cash in any of the chances on the scoreboard.
“We had a couple of great chances at 0-0, but they did a great job,” Fogarty said. “It’s just wave after wave when you play St. Norbert. They are a very well-coached team and executed great tonight. The break (since playing last) was irrelevant tonight. They are a very good hockey team and I think they are destined for big things this year.”
The Green Knights changed momentum at the 14:11 mark, with Joe Perry netting his 20th of the season to get the scoring started. Erik Cooper added a power-play goal two minutes later and the defense held the Bulldogs in check.
“We know what Adrian is going to bring to the table and the kind of game they want to play,” Coghlin said. “We were trying to counterbalance that with some of the strengths that we do. We gave them three shots in the first and four in the second – that is puck possession.”
The Green Knights were dominant in the second period and tallied another power-play goal to make it 3-0 at the 5:03 mark. Two minutes later, Ross Pavek lit the lamp on a nifty one-timer from the point on a pass from the left wing to make it 4-0. Five minutes after that, Chris Rial made it all St. Norbert’s in the first two periods, giving the hosts the 5-0 lead.
The Bulldogs did break up the shutout in the third, with Kevin Balas netting his 10th of the season at the 9:32 mark for a glimmer of hope. But, St. Norbert had nothing to do with that, finding an answer 110 seconds later to retake the five-goal cushion at 6-1.
Adrian netted its second on the power play, with Justin Basso scoring his ninth of the season with about five minutes to play, one-timing a pass from Josh Ranalli. The Green Knights had one final answer, however, with Joe Perry sneaking one through the goalie on a 5-on-3 power play with a rocket from straightway at the 16:23 mark.
St. Norbert, winners of nine straight games, will face either Norwich University or Geneseo State University in a national semifinal at 4 p.m. EDT Friday, March 21 at Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston, Maine.
Chris Zills - NCHAhockey.org