McKelvie comes to Lake Forest after spending last season as an assistant coach at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The 2010-11 Seawolves posted their best Western Collegiate Hockey Association record since joining the league in 1993. He served as the team's recruiting coordinator and academic advisor and assisted the head coach in nearly every aspect of the program.

He spent the previous two years as the associate head coach of the expansion Wenatchee Wild in the North American Hockey League. The Wild were 92-33-7 in his two seasons with the team and finished among the top three teams in the nation in their first two years of existence. His responsibilities spanned all facets of the program, which was directed by Paul Baxter, a 12-year NHL assistant coach and four-year head coach in the AHL/IHL.

McKelvie began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bemidji State University from 2006-08. The Beavers posted a 22-10-8 record in College Hockey America play during his two years on staff and claimed a CHA regular season title in 2007-08. He served under head coach Tom Serratore, a three-time CHA Coach of the Year.

His coaching experience also includes two years as the head coach of the '92 Minnesota Jr. Mavericks AAA team, eight years as a head coach at John Bazzachini's summer training, and four years as a coach at the USA National Select 15 and 17 festivals.

McKelvie played at Minnesota State University from 2002-06 and is the first three-year captain in program history. He was also a three-time member of the WCHA Student-Athlete All-Academic Team and was nominated for the league's Scholar Athlete of the Year award. The 2002-03 Mavericks advanced to the NCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.

McKelvie earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Minnesota State and is near completion of his master's degree (thesis pending) in sports studies from Bemidji State.

"This was certainly one of the strongest head coaching candidate pools in my 20 years as athletic director and Coach McKelvie received broad support from all constituencies on campus," began Slaats. "I have high expectations for our hockey program and am confident that Ryan has what it takes to lead us to unprecedented levels of success, both on and off the ice. He has been extremely successful as a player and as a coach and we are fortunate to have him as the leader of our program. It is truly an exciting time to be part of Lake Forest College and Forester Hockey!"

"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to lead the Lake Forest College men's hockey program," commented McKelvie. "It was clear throughout the interview process and during my visit to campus that my coaching goals align closely with those of the College. Recent enhancements to the rink and other athetic facilities at the College also strengthen my belief that Forester Hockey has the potential to be very successful."

McKelvie and his fiancee Megan will relocate to Lake Forest in early June.

Press release courtesy of Lake Forest College Sports Information Department

Three different players from the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association - representing three different schools - landed spots on the All-USCHO.com teams when they were announced last Friday (April 22) by the website. Adrian College's Shawn Skelly highlighted the trio by earning First-Team All-USCHO honors.

Marian University's Dakota Dubetz and MSOE's Connor Toomey were each named to the third team. All three previously earned All-American honors in late March.

From release by USCHO.com below

NCAA D-III champions St. Norbert placed one player each on the first, second, and third All-USCHO teams, while Hamline and Fredonia each placed two players on the three teams.

Leading the way on the first team were top scorers Josh Harris of Castleton, Shawn Skelly of Adrian, and Jordon Oye of Fredonia, who finished 1, 4, and 11 in the country in scoring, respectively. On defense are Kyle Shearer-Hardy of Bowdoin, who racked up 38 points on the year (tied for 16), and Chris Berenguer of Hamline, who scored 32 points, (tied with multiple players at 43). Rounding out the first team is USCHO Player of the Year B.J. O’Brien, who led the country in goaltending with a .930 saves percentage and 1.65 goals against average and stopped 39 in the Frozen Four semifinal against defending champs Norwich.

For the first time in the history of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association, three teams are among those listed in the final USCHO.com national poll, which was released at the end of March.

After a thrilling run to the NCAA Championship game, Adrian College (25-4-1) closed out the 2010-11 campaign in second place in the final poll after finishing as the NCAA National Runner-up.

MSOE (21-6-1) placed 14th, while Marian University (19-8-0) was among eight schools receiving votes in the poll.

The final poll can be viewed HERE.

Adrian College senior goaltender Brad Fogal is being featured this week in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd section.

Fogal is the all-time NCAA Division III leader with 93 wins in net.

For the SI.com webpage, click HERE.

Fogal joins former Bulldog Adam Krug (HERE) and Northland College's Daniel McIntosh (HERE) as recent members from the MCHA of the famous "Faces in the Crowd" feature.

The final comeback didn’t come.

Adrian College overcame one-goal deficits on three separate occasions Saturday night in the NCAA D-III Hockey National Championship, but the fourth goal the Bulldogs spent the final period looking for never materialized.

The final score at Ridder Arena may have read 4-3 in favor of St. Norbert College, but it’s hard to say the Bulldogs were losers, and most of the 1,741 in attendance would probably agree.

Kyle Watson tied the game at 2-2 and Eric Miller’s goal (pictured below) made it 3-3 late in the second period, but Nick Tabisz’s power-play goal just 59 seconds later held up as the game-winner.

“I thought their power play was the difference, our inability to stay out of the box,” Adrian College head coach Ron Fogarty said. “Five on five, I believe it was 3-1. They won the special teams. I said it the last four years, if you win the special teams, you have a great shot of winning the game. And they beat us in that facet of the game today.”

NOTE: Link to video of entire postgame press conference HERE.

In just their fourth year of existence, Adrian triumphed as the underdog through the NCAA Tournament in setting up a date for the title with the No. 1-ranked Green Knights, a team making its fifth title game appearance in the past eight seasons.

“I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to play in a championship game,” Fogarty said. “It just wasn’t our day, but hopefully someday we can get back here. It’s a very difficult road, a very enjoyable road. We just didn’t get the job done today.”

The fortunate bounces that seemed to go the Bulldogs way Friday night went the other way Saturday.

St. Norbert was the first team to find the back of the net and it happened less than five minutes into the championship tilt. AC’s Brad Fogal made the initial stop of a long-range shot from Cody Keefer, but the puck skipped up and over Fogal’s head, landing a few feet short of the net before slowly, and painfully, trickling across the line.

But the Bulldogs didn’t appear rattled. About midway through the period, Sam Kuzyk lit the lamp to make it a new game at 1-1 at the 10:49 mark.

The theme for the rest of the game was the power play. St. Norbert made it 2-1 just a few minutes later when Johan Ryd took a nice bounce off the boards on the opposite side of the net and struck for the first extra-man advantage.

The Bulldogs outscored the Green Knights, 3-1, on the night at even strength. However, a 3-for-5 showing for St. Norbert was the difference, as Adrian went just 0-for-2 in its own power-play situations.

For the game, the Green Knights outshot the Bulldogs, 34-21, with Fogal recording 30 saves. B.J. O’Brien stopped 18 shots for St. Norbert, which won their second National Championship in program history.

Adrian’s Shawn Skelly and Jeremy Klaver were named to the all-tournament team, along with SNC’s O’Brien – who was named Most Outstanding Player – Nick Tabisz and Cody Keefer. Oswego State’s Andrew Mather rounded out the squad.

Both teams concluded the 2010-11 campaign at 25-4-1 overall.

That was all it took for Shawn Skelly, a First-Team All-American, to turn the momentum of the contest around, net the eventual game-winner, and bring a four-year odyssey to the brink of completion.

At the end of the day, Adrian College (25-3-1) and Oswego State (23-5-0) did play a thrilling NCAA semifinal Friday afternoon. But, after jumping out to a 2-0 lead after one period, the Bulldogs watched the Lakers battle back and make it a game with two second-period power play goals, getting within one at 3-2 when the period concluded.

NCAA SEMIFINAL PHOTO GALLERY

And then the second intermission hit. The fans could sense it. There was a feeling around Ridder Arena that the realization was this - the Bulldogs had the lead and were 20 minutes away from the right to play for the NCAA National Championship.

Then, before you could even get seated, Ian Boots silenced the Adrian crowd with a great goal to make it 3-3 just 78 seconds into the final period. A real momentum-turner in a game full of them.

Facing the thought of elimination was not even an option. Just over a minute later, Eric Miller found the puck on his stick after a lucky bounce. He fed Skelly, who skated toward the net with his opportunity.

Nothing but the back of the net. 4-3 Adrian. Momentum regained.

“As soon I turned my head at the blue line, I saw Miller skating up and the one defenseman was a step back,” Skelly said. “Once he dropped, the other guy bit pretty hard and gave me a bit of room. The goalie kind of slid along with me as I was going to the right and I just put one back to the left side. It was all good from there.”

The defense did the rest, holding Oswego scoreless the final 17-plus minutes of the game. Goalie Brad Fogal (pictured at left) was at his best in the period, making 10 of his 39 total saves, including several on a two-minute power play with just over eight minutes left in the game.

“Obviously, it was a huge boost for our team,” Skelly said of the goal. “It was a huge boost for me and the rest of the boys. Just to get back in it after they tied the game real early. We needed something – we needed a boost. That was the turning point.”

The Bulldogs would net a final goal, getting an empty-netter from Mike Towns with under a minute to play to round out the scoring in the 5-3 decision.

A little more than four years ago, none of this existed. No rink, no players, no equipment … just a coach with big dreams. And now the team has come full circle in what is certainly close to an unprecedented feat in college athletics.

“This was our goal when I started this program with Mike Duffy and President Docking,” head coach Ron Fogarty said. “Obviously, everyone’s goal is to win a National Championship. And now we have given ourselves the opportunity to be 60 minutes away tomorrow.”

In just four hockey seasons, the list of accomplishments is staggering – four league titles, four Harris Cups, the MCHA’s first-ever bid into the NCAA Tournament, 102 victories in 115 games. Over 700 goals. And now this, as the Bulldogs will take on St. Norbert College for the NCAA championship Saturday night.

“The guys were resilient today,” Fogarty said. “Brad Fogal is playing excellent right now and we have a guy like Shawn Skelly clicking on all cylinders, so we have what we need - a chance to win a hockey game.”

That opportunity is up next, as the puck will drop at Ridder Arena Saturday at 7 p.m. against a Green Knights team that will be playing in its fifth NCAA Division III championship game in eight years.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Adrian College men's hockey team continued its magical ride this season by winning 5-3 over Oswego State in the NCAA Division III semifinals on Friday afternoon (Mar. 25) and will now play for the first NCAA championship in Adrian College history tomorrow night against the winner of St. Norbert/Norwich which had not started as of press time.

The Bulldogs got off to a 2-0 start after the first period as Zach Graham and Andrew Dovey each scored in the first 20 minutes. Graham notched his 15th goal of the season at 14:19 on the power play as he took a rebound and put it past goaltender Paul Beckwith. Joel Workman and Brad Houston each had an assist on the game's first goal. Dovey had a great individual effort goal at even strength at 19:45 to make it 2-0. He stole the puck and walked in on Beckwith to the left post and beat him with a shot to the right post just inside the goal line unassisted. It was Dovey's eighth tally of the year and first unassisted goal.

Oswego applied a lot of pressure in the second period and outshot Adrian, 20-8, after being outshot by Adrian, 13-11, in the first period. The Lakers cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:36 on the power play as Andrew Mather's slapshot from the right wing was assisted by Stephen Mallaro and Jon Whitelaw. The Bulldogs regained a two-goal lead at 8:48 again on the power play as Skelly's 20th goal of the year was assisted by Eric Miller. Skelly took a one-timer in the right circle and beat Beckwith to the blocker side. It was Skelly's 47th career power play goal moving him into fifth place all-time in Division III history.

The Lakers came right back to make it 3-2 at 14:45 as Mather's second goal of the game was very similar to his first. He took a shot on the right wing and beat Brad Fogal under his pads with Whitelaw and Chris Laganiere getting assists on the power play goal. Adrian still led 3-2 after 40 minutes despite a great period by the Lakers.

Ian Boots tied the game at 3-3 just 1:18 into the third period on an odd-man rush and lazered a shot past Fogal into the top right corner for his 15th tally of the season from Mather and David Titanic. The momentum was in favor of Oswego State but the Bulldogs got a fortunate bounce and turned it into a 4-3 lead. Skelly and Miller had a 2-on-1 after a slapshot by Oswego State wrapped around the boards and into center ice. Miller gave up the puck and Skelly made a move on the defender before wristing the puck into the net to give Adrian a huge goal.

The game slowed down after Skelly's goal at 2:23 and the Adrian defense kept Oswego off the board the rest of the way. Mike Towns iced the win with an empty net goal at 19:17 from Kyle Watson. It was Towns' sixth goal of the season and sent Adrian to the NCAA Championship game.

"We are thrilled to be moving on and it really has not hit me yet," said Miller. "We still have one more game to win before we can really exhale. Our goal four years ago was to win a national title and we are so close to realizing a dream."

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Reebok All-American teams were announced Thursday night (Mar. 24) at the NCAA Division III Final Four banquet at McNamara Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Senior forward Shawn Skelly (Wolverine Lake, Mich.) was named First Team West Region All-American becoming the first men's player to be named First Team All-American.

Skelly is a four-time MCHA All-Conference selection and currently has 226 career points, which is the most by a current player in Division III. He was also named the 2008-09 MCHA Player of the Year. He has 100 goals and 126 assists in his career which spans 112 games.

Skelly leads the Bulldogs into the NCAA Division III semifinals today against Oswego State at 4:30 EDT from Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. He leads the team with 45 points this season with 19 goals and 26 assists. Skelly is the all-time MCHA leader in points (161) and ranks sixth all-time in Division III with 46 power play goals. In addition, his 19 career game-winning goals is tied for first in Division III history.

-Release courtesy of Adrian College Sports Inmformation Office

Skelly becomes the first First-Team honoree in the history of the MCHA, but was not the only league member to be honored.

The league saw three players earn All-American honors in the same season for the first time in league history. In addition to Skelly, MSOE's Connor Toomey and Marian University's Dakota Dubetz were both honored with Second-Team All-American honors in the West Region.

That brings the all-time list to seven All-Americans in league history, as the trio join fellow Bulldogs Mike Dahlinger (Second Team 2009-10), Chris Stansik (Second Team 2009-10) and Adam Krug (Second Team 2007-08) and former MSOE Raider Brian Soik (Second Team 2006-07).

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Arrington Ice Arena was very quiet after 20 minutes of play on Saturday night (Mar. 12). Adrian saw themselves down 2-0 to Elmira College in a NCAA Quarterfinal game after the Soaring Eagles scored twice on the nation's best penalty kill unit. What happened next will be talked about in the community for a long time. The Bulldogs staged a comeback for the ages with five straight goals, all at even strength, and propelled themselves into the NCAA Division III Frozen Four with a 5-3 win.

"We knew that we were playing well other than on the penalty kill in the first period," said senior forward Sam Kuzyk (pictured).  "The shot total was in favor of us and we were out-playing them 5-on-5. We got a couple of greasy goals in front and the floodgates opened. It was a special moment to win on home ice in my final game at Arrington Ice Arena."

Kuzyk rose to the occasion scoring twice against Elmira. He netted a goal at 7:55 of the second period for his ninth of the season on a play where he had to fight for a rebound and smacked the puck past Elmira goaltender Darren MacDonald on Adrian's 17th shot on goal. Linemate and fellow senior Brad Houston tied the game at 2-2 with his 14th of the season at 10:14. He also got a rebound and backhanded it after a Shawn Courtney blast off a faceoff led to the rebound.

The Bulldogs were just getting started as Shawn Skelly got into the act at 15:55 with a one-timer between the circles that went under MacDonald for his 100th career goal and 19th of the season. Eric Miller had an assist on the go-ahead goal which was his 200th career point. Adrian suffocated Elmira in the first 1:23 of the third period and built their lead to 5-2. Kuzyk's second of the night at 1:07 came from Quinn Waller and Mike Dahlinger as Waller's blast off the boards came right to Kuzyk on the left pipe. Joel Workman scored his eighth of the season just 16 seconds later off a rebound from Kyle Gallinger from the right point. The Bulldogs had five goals in 10 shots on goal during the barrage.

Brock Sawyer got his second goal of the evening at 2:21 to make things a little interesting on a 4-on-4 situation. Adrian closed things out as Elmira pulled MacDonald with 1:10 left but could not threat the back of the net. Sawyer had just one goal this season coming into the game. Adrian outshot Elmira, 29-23, on the night with four coming on a power play that went 0-for-5. The Soaring Eagles finish the season at 17-7-4 while Adrian improves to 24-3-1.

Adrian will face Oswego State in the NCAA semifinals on Mar. 25 at 3:30 pm from Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The two teams played last season with the Lakers winning 5-2 on Jan. 8, 2010 in Oswego. The Lakers were ranked number one in the country at the time.

-Game story courtesy of Adrian College Sports Information Department

Adrian, Mich. – The Adrian College men’s hockey team has been selected to host a quarterfinal round game of the NCAA tournament where they will face #7 Elmira College on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 pm (EST).

Both teams received a first round bye, which allows the winner of the game to advance to the Frozen Four at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday, March 25 at 3:30 pm (CST).

Adrian, ranked #5 in the nation, won the MCHA title by a score of 5-0 over Marian (Wis.) on Sunday, March 6 to earn their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs are 23-3-1 on the season.

Tickets for the game will go on sale at 9:00 am on Wednesday, March 9.

Reserved Seats will be $10, General Admission (Standing Room Only) will be $8 and Seniors/Students with a college ID will be $4. For all ticket information, please contact Arrington Ice Arena (*517-265-5161 Ext. 5011*) not before 9:00 am on March 9.

-Press release courtesy of Adrian College Sports Information Office

MSOE’s Connor Toomey was named the MCHA Player of the Year to highlight the award ceremony and six Adrian Bulldogs were among the 14 players honored with postseason accolades.

Shawn Skelly and Brad Fogal became just the fourth and fifth players to ever earn all-conference honors all four seasons, joining former Lawrence Viking Josh Peterson (2004-08) and MSOE Raiders Jason Woll (2005-09) and Ryan Moren (1998-2002) on that prestigious list.

MSOE head coach Mark Ostapina was selected as the MCHA Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career after leading his squad to a 16-3-1 league mark this season.

2010-11 MCHA All-Conference (Alphabetically by position)
Forward: Mike Dahlinger (Adrian College, Senior)

Forward: Dakota Dubetz (Marian University, Sophomore)

Forward: Brendan Hull (Marian University, Senior)
Forward: Jordan Keizer (MSOE, Sophomore)
Forward: Colin McIntosh (Northland College, Junior)

Forward: Eric Miller (Adrian College, Senior)
Forward: Shawn Skelly (Adrian College, Senior)

Defense: Nathan Brummitt (Marian University, Senior)
Defense: Tommy Fitzpatrick (Marian University, Sophomore)
Defense: Jeremy Klaver (Adrian College, Senior)

Defense: William Thoren (Lawrence University, Freshman)
Defense: Quinn Waller (Adrian College, Senior)
Goalie: Brad Fogal (Adrian College, Senior)

Goalie: Connor Toomey (MSOE, Junior)

Note: Seven (7) forwards and five (5) defensemen due to voting ties

MCHA All-Freshmen Team
Forward: Josh Cousineau (Adrian College)

Forward: Collin Saint Onge (Finlandia University)
Forward: Matt Williams (Marian University)
Defense: Michael Thompson (MSOE)
Defense: William Thoren (Lawrence University)
Goalie: Josh Baker (Marian University)

MCHA Player of the Year: Connor Toomey (MSOE, Junior)

MCHA Coach of the Year: Mark Ostapina, MSOE

2010-11 MCHA All-Academic Team

Adrian – 15
Shawn Courtney, Sophomore … Jeremy Cross, Senior # … Zach Galia, Senior # … Zach Graham, Sophomore … Bobby Hineman, Senior # … Brad Houston, Senior # … Jeremy Klaver, Senior # … Sam Kuzyk, Senior # … Eric Roman, Senior # … Drew Satterley, Senior … Mike Towns, Senior # … Quinn Waller, Senior # … Kyle Watson, Senior # … Joel Workman, Senior # … Jeff Young, Sophomore

Concordia – 8
Joseph Douglas, Sophomore … Josh Farnam, Senior # … Jake Furey, Junior … Dustin LeClaire, Senior # … Jarred Lucas, Sophomore … Andy Parrott, Sophomore … Jon Smith, Senior # … Mike Wyenn, Senior #

Finlandia – 6
Reece Anderson, Sophomore … Charlie Benik, Junior * … James Brey, Junior * … Ryan Donovan, Senior # … Nemanja Jankovic, Junior * … Matthew Wylie, Senior #

Lake Forest – 11
Jordan Cutler, Senior * … Anthony Ventura, Senior … Justin Crawford, Junior … Joel Gard, Junior * … Chad Thompson, Junior … Thomas Bark, Sophomore … Robert Bote, Sophomore … Phil Bushbacher, Sophomore … Austin Erney, Sophomore … Tyler Hauer, Sophomore …David Sharpe, Sophomore

Lawrence – 8
Michael Baldino, Sophomore … Jesse Byam-Katzman, Junior * … Ben DiMarco, Junior * … Jacob Esch, Senior * … Matt Hughes, Junior * …Sam Johnson, Junior * … Brad Scurfield, Sophomore … Jonathon Sheridan, Senior

Marian – 14
Lane Boswell, Junior * … Nathan Brummitt, Senior # … Todd Collins, Senior # … Justin Cormier, Senior * … Justin De Maa, Senior * … Dakota Dubetz, Sophomore … Tommy Fitzpatrick, Sophomore … Zack Fray, Senior * … Mitch Kriz, Sophomore … Andrew Kuechler, Sophomore … Mike McCurtain, Junior … Chris Thompson, Junior * … Randy Wills, Senior # … Dmitry Sentsov, Senior

MSOE – 7
Nathan Brunk, Sophomore … Aaron Humphries, Senior # … Jordan Keizer, Sophomore … Carl Lindblad, Sophomore … Ryno Linder, Junior * … Michael Pao, Sophomore … Michael Soik, Senior #

Northland – 10
Shane Buckley, Sophomore … Nicholas Hewko, Sophomore … David Little, Sophomore … Colin McIntosh, Junior … Daniel McIntosh, Junior * … Shaun Newman, Senior # … Ryan Pageau, Senior # … Kyle Smythe, Junior * … Austin Southerland, Sophomore … Jamieson Webking, Sophomore

Note: * = Two-Time All-Academic member ... # = Three-time All-Academic member

ADRIAN, Mich. - The 100th win in program history was especially sweet on Sunday afternoon as the Adrian College men's hockey team captured their fourth straight MCHA Harris Cup with a 5-0 win over Marian University at Arrington Ice Arena. The team was firing on all cylinders as they opened up a close game with three third-period goals to send them back to the NCAA Tournament with the league's automatic bid.

"We really wanted this one," said senior Shawn Skelly, the tournament's Most Valuable Player. "Our group of 17 seniors have had some amazing things and we left it all out on the ice this afternoon. My teammates are so great and I'm honored to be named the MVP."

Skelly had two goals and one assist in the final after assisting on five goals in the semifinal. He scored the first two goals of the game at 14:27 of the first period and 4:22 of the second period to give AC a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. The first goal came off a deflection in front by Skelly off a shot by senior Bobby Hineman. Hineman and Zach Graham each had an assist on Skelly's 17th goal of the season. The second goal was a highlight reel play as Skelly took the puck out in front of the net and quickly lifted a backhand shot at a sharp angle into the top right corner of the goal. It was his 18th of the season and 99th of his career.

Adrian scored their third and fourth goals just 30 seconds apart at 5:16 and 5:46 of the third period. Graham scored his 13th of the season after Miller's initial shot was stopped and Graham picked up the rebound and found room behind two Marian defenders by the net. Miller and Hineman each had an assist on the goal. Jordan Watts made it 4-0 also off a rebound from Josh Cousineau for his 12th goal of the season. Jeremy Klaver also had an assist on the goal.

Graham ended the scoring at 13:26 on the power play as Skelly ripped a shot and Graham was again in position for a rebound. It was Graham's seventh power play goal of the year. Miller, Graham, Klaver and Brad Fogal all were named to the all-tournament team. Fogal pitched his first shutout of the season and 13th of his career. He stopped all 30 shots and won for the 91st time in net.

MCHA Harris Cup All-Tournament Team

Forward: Eric Miller (Adrian)
Forward: Brendan Hull (Marian)
Forward: Zach Graham (Adrian)
Defense: Jeremy Klaver (Adrian)
Defense: Jonathon Sheridan (Lawrence)
Goalie: Brad Fogal (Adrian)
MVP: Shawn Skelly (Adrian)

-Story courtesy of Adrian College Sports Information

ADRIAN, Mich. - Marian University erupted for nine goals in a 9-2 win over Milwaukee School of Engineering in the second semifinal of the 2011 MCHA Harris Cup played at Arrington Ice Arena in Adrian, Michigan on Saturday night. The Sabres (19-7) avenged a pair of regular season losses to the Raiders as MSOE allowed a season-high in goals.

Marian advances to the MCHA Harris Cup Final for the second year in a row and will face a rematch with #5 Adrian College (22-3-1) who also had a 9-2 win over Lawrence in the first semifinal on Saturday. The Bulldogs defeated the Sabres, 3-2, a year ago to earn the MCHA's first bid into the NCAA Tournament.

It was senior forward Brendan Hull's (pictured) show for Marian as he had a hat trick and added two assists on the night. Hull scored Marian's first goal at 2:02 of the opening period for his 20th tally of the season from Dakota Dubetz and Tommy Fitzpatrick. Marian led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.

The Sabres scored five more unanswered goals in the second period to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Freshman Robbie Bailey scored his third of the year just 10 seconds into the period from Matt Burger and Lane Boswell. MU also scored at 4:47 as senior Justin Cormier scored the first of his two goals in the game from Tanner Burton and Matt Williams. MSOE then called timeout to try and regroup, but it took just a few more minutes for Marian to strike again.

Dubetz' 15th goal of the season at 9:32 from Hull and Burger made it 4-0. Hull's second of the night came on the power play at 15:08 from Nathan Brummitt and Fitzpatrick. Cormier's 13th goal of the year at 17:18 from Williams and Todd Collins practically put the game out of reach. Junior Ryno Linder stopped the bleeding at 18:26 for his first goal of the year from Todd Krupa to make it 6-1 after two periods.

Marian notched three more goals in the third as Hull got his 22nd of the year at 1:26 followed by Williams' 18th of the campaign at 3:48. The Raiders scored at 4:56 on the power play as Steven Shaffroth scored his sixth of the year from Michael Schenfeld and Michael Thompson. Marian scored with two seconds left on the power play as Fitzpatrick scored his fifth of the season from Hull and Dubetz.

Josh Baker made 28 saves on the night to get the win (7-3). MCHA Player of the Year Connor Toomey had a rough night stopping just 17-of-24 shots. Chris Keller played the final 16:27 in net and made five saves for MSOE. Marian went 2-for-3 on the power play while MSOE went 1-for-4.

-Story courtesy of Adrian Sports Information Office

ADRIAN, Mich. – It looked like a trip down memory lane for the Adrian College men’s hockey team on Saturday with a 9-2 win in the MCHA Harris Cup Semifinals against Lawrence University. Senior forward Eric Miller (pictured) scored 40 goals during his freshman season and showed flashes of that explosive scoring with three goals and three assists setting a career-high with six points. Senior forward Shawn Skelly also set a career-high with five assists and sophomore forward Zach Graham added a goal and three assists.

Adrian scored 22 seconds into the game as Miller scored his 16^th goal of the season from Skelly and Graham. The quick strike put the Vikings on their heels and the Bulldogs used that to their advantage by scoring at 3:02 as Miller scored his 17^th goal of the year from Skelly and Graham. Senior defenseman Eric Roman got into the act at 4:33 with his second goal of the season from Miller and Skelly on a 4-on-4 situation.

The second period saw junior forward Jordan Watts score at 1:36 for his 11^th goal of the season from Shawn Courtney and Sam Kuzyk. Lawrence stormed back with two goals in a span of 14 seconds to cut the lead to 4-2. Sam Johnson scored on the power play at 8:38 from Paul Zuke and Jonathon Sheridan for his seventh of the year. Huck Saunders then scored his fifth of the year at 8:52 from Zuke and Sheridan.

Adrian put to rest any comeback thoughts by scoring twice more to end the period. Miller’s hat trick at 10:12 from Skelly made it 5-2. Senior defenseman Jeremy Klaver then blasted a power play goal into the net at 11:40 from Graham and Miller to make it 6-2 after 40 minutes.

The Bulldogs continued the pressure in the third as senior forward Kyle Watson scored his fourth of the season at 6:39. Freshman forward Josh Cousineau made it 8-2 at 9:34 from Joel Workman and Klaver. Graham finished the scoring at 13:20 on the power play from guess who Miller and Skelly.

Senior goaltender Brad Fogal made 38 saves in the game and earned his 90^th career win. Evan Johnson made 29 stops for the Vikings (14-13-1). Lawrence was 1-for-7 on the power play while Adrian went 2-for-3. Adrian advances to their fourth straight MCHA Harris Cup Final. They will play either MSOE or Marian tomorrow at 2:00 PM for the right to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Story courtesy of Adrian Sports Information

With the first round playoffs of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament in the books, the field is set for the Harris Cup Four this upcoming weekend in Adrian, Mich.

Seeds held this past weekend, as both second-seeded divisional teams won their series by a 2-0 count. MSOE posted victories of 6-1 and 6-3 over Lake Forest, while Lawrence got by Northland, 2-1 Friday and 3-1 Saturday.

As the No. 4 overall seed from the regular season standings, Lawrence will take on host and No. 1-seeded Adrian in Saturday's early game, set for 2 p.m. EST. MSOE, the No. 3 seed from the regular season standings, will take on No. 2 Marian University (the Northern Division champion), in the late game, scheduled to start at 6 p.m. EST. It should be some great hockey on display, with the Bulldogs No. 5 in today's USCHO.com national poll, the Raiders moving up to No. 9 and the Sabres back in the receiving votes section.

Sunday's MCHA Championship is scheduled for a 2 p.m. EST. For the second time in league history, the winner will again represent the MCHA in the NCAA Tournament.

Each game will have live STATS and VIDEO available on Adrian's website and on the MCHA schedule page.

All of the information is set up on their championship webpage:

CLICK HERE FOR ADRIAN'S HARRIS CUP WEBPAGE

Tournament Ticket Information
Reserved Seats - $10
General Admission (Standing Room Only) - $8
Seniors/Students (Must have college I.D.) - $4

There will also be tournament passes available:
3 Game Reserved - $25
3 Game General Admission (Standing Room Only) - $20
3 Game Seniors/Students (Must have college I.D.) - $10

Note: Ice Arena will be cleared after first semifinal game on Saturday.

For all ticket information, please contact Arrington Ice Arena (517-265-5161 Ext. 5011).

The 13th season of play in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association has come to a close and tournament play begins this upcoming weekend. Second-seeded MSOE hosts Lake Forest College in one division, while second-seeded Lawrence University welcomes Northland College in the other. Adrian College and Marian University have earned byes as the division champions.

Adrian swept a pair of games from MSOE in a battle of two Top-10 teams to earn its fourth-consecutive MCHA regular season crown. The Bulldogs and Raiders came in tied and AC took care of business Friday, with goalie Brad Fogal saving 35 of 36 shots - including a penalty shot - in the 3-1 victory. The win was historic for Fogal, giving him 88 in his career to break the NCAA record.

The other three series all featured splits, with the home teams winning all three games on Friday. Marian and Northland split their series, with the LumberJacks posting a 4-1 win Friday and the Sabres responding with a 6-1 win Saturday.

Lawrence wrapped up the #2 seed in the Northern Division with a victory, topping Finlandia, 7-5 Friday before the Lions closed out their season with a 6-3 win on Saturday. Lastly, Lake Forest and Concordia split a home-and-home series, with the Foresters winning the opener, 5-3, and the Falcons also closing out their campaign with a victory in the 5-4 decision Saturday.

Four years after beginning a program from scratch, Adrian College seniors leave their names all over the MCHA record book on offense and defense. Prior to the Bulldogs joining the MCHA, just two former players recorded over 100 career points in Finlandia's Josh Paquette (130 on 47G/83A) and MSOE's Lee Swallow (120 on 45G/75A). That list is now seven members long with the addition of five Bulldog seniors.

1. Shawn Skelly - 161 (73G/88A)

2. Eric Miller - 131 (60G/71A)

3. Mike Dahlinger - 125 (34G/91A)

4. Brad Houston - 119 (55G/64A)

5. Sam Kuzyk - 102 (45G/57A)

In addition, Skelly (73), Miller (60), and Houston (55) now make up the top three in career goals. Dahlinger (91) and Skelly (88), who traded places down the stretch, now make up the top two career assist leaders and Quinn Waller is the all-time leader in assists (76) and points (87) by a defenseman. Lastly, Brad Fogal leaves as the MCHA's all-time leader in career wins with 70 (as part of a 70-1-1 record, second place is 37 wins) and with 72 games played. He also is second all-time in goals against average at 1.68 and save percentage at .934. He also broke former St. Norbert College goalie Kyle Jones (2005-08) career NCAA record for wins and is now at 89-10-2.

All game dates and times for the first round are available on the MCHA schedule page. The chase for the Harris Cup starts this weekend with the first round of the playoffs Feb. 25-27. The opening round is a two-game series with possible mini-game. The winners will advance to the MCHA Harris Cup Four, hosted by Adrian College at the Arrington Ice Arena.

         
-Left to right: Brad Fogal (Adrian) ... Josh Baker (Marian) ... Josh Cousineau (Adrian)

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior goalie Brad Fogal (Sharon, ONT) is the MCHA Player of the Week for his work in the nets in the Top-10 showdown with MSOE with the league title on the line. On Friday, he turned away 35 of 36 shots, including a penalty shot in the championship-clinching, 3-1 win on the road. He kept Adrian in the game after being outshot 26-11 after two periods, with the win giving Fogal the career NCAA record at 88. His 89th came the next day with 27 saves in the 3-1 victory. He was also a main contributor to the Raiders' 0-for-12 showing on the power play for the weekend.

Other nominees: Nicholas Hewko (Northland), Jonathan Bellotti (Lawrence)

-Marian University Sabres freshman goalie Josh Baker (Canton, Mich.) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. He started the week coming on in relief in his team's loss Friday, stopping 14 of 15 shots to earn the start the next day. On Saturday, he topped that with saves on 25 of 26 attempts for a .951 save percentage for the weekend.

-Adrian College Bulldogs freshman forward Josh Cousineau (Penetang, Ontario) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week for his work in the title-clinching series. AC scored six goals on the weekend and Cousineau had a part in half. He had an assist on the first goal on Friday then followed up with a power play goal and an assist on Saturday.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Adrian College men's hockey team can hoist another banner inside Arrington Ice Arena after a 3-1 win at MSOE on Friday night (Feb. 18) as they clinched their fourth straight MCHA regular season title improving to 20-3-1 overall and 17-1-1 in the MCHA. The Bulldogs won the South Division and will earn a bye into the Harris Cup semifinals as the conference's top seed. The Harris Cup will begin March 5 with the finals set for March 6.

Adrian will finish the regular season tomorrow against the Raiders and improved to 16-0-1 all-time against MSOE. Senior goaltender Brad Fogal had a historically night as he became the NCAA Division III all-time wins leader in net. Fogal made 35 saves in one of his best efforts of the season and is now 88-10-2 in his career. Fogal surpassed Kyle Jones of St. Norbert who played from 2005-2008. Fogal sits eighth in NCAA Division III history in goals against average, 12th in save percentage and fourth in win percentage.

The Bulldogs and Raiders entered the contest with identical records and the top ten battle did not disappoint. Adrian ranked fifth in the latest USCHO.com Division III poll got on the board first after a scoreless first period. Senior forward Eric Miller scored at 0:40 of the second period on the power play with assists from Josh Cousineau and Zach Graham. It was Miller's 15th goal of the season and 85th of his career. It was also his sixth power play goal of the season and 29th of his career.

Milwaukee School of Engineering ranked eighth this week tied the game at 1-1 at the 12:17 mark of the second at even strength with assists from Ryno Linder and Carl Lindblad. MSOE had a golden opportunity just a few minutes earlier as Michael Soik attempted a penalty shot which was stopped by Fogal. The second period ended at 1-1 with the Raiders holding a 26-11 edge in shots on goal at that point.

Junior forward Jordan Watts scored the game-winner at 2:31 of the third period at even strength with assists from Joel Workman and Kyle Watson. It was his ninth goal of the season in his first year with the Bulldogs. That goal seemed to give Adrian momentum heading toward the finish as Adrian outshot MSOE, 14-10, in the third to bring the total to 36-25 in favor of the Raiders for the contest.

Adrian killed off two penalties in the third period and all four for the game. AC came into the game as the third-best penalty killing unit in Division III at 89.3 percent. After a Jeremy Klaver holding minor put the Raiders on the power play with 2:04 left, Watson controlled the puck and slipped it into an empty net at the 18:23 mark with an assist from Mike Towns. It was his third goal of the season and 32nd of his career. Adrian has now gone unbeaten in their last 13 games going 12-0-1.

Marian University came into play on the weekend with a four-point lead over Lawrence University and a home-and-home series on the schedule. Two victories later, the Sabres wrapped up first place in the MCHA Northern Division with wins of 5-0 Friday and 6-3 on Saturday.

The Southern Division champion - and regular season title winner - will be crowned the final weekend of the regular season, with both Adrian College and MSOE at 16-1-1 after each took care of business on the weekend. The Bulldogs head to Milwaukee, with the Raiders hosting the huge series with start times of 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at the Kern Center.

The Bulldogs extended their unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1), taking to the road to post victories of 9-2 and 7-1 over Concordia University. The Raiders did the same, sweeping a home-and-home series against Lake Forest College, winning 3-0 and 5-3 to improve their own winning streak to eight-consecutive. It will be a very high-profile series for the league across the board, with both teams remaining in the top 10. In fact, Adrian comes in at No. 5 in today's USCHO.com poll, while the Raiders move up to No. 8.

Northland College also continued its best season as a member of the MCHA, sweeping a pair of games from Finlandia University to up its victory total on the season to seven in league play and eight overall. After topping the Lions, 3-2 in overtime Friday and 7-3 Saturday, the LumberJacks improved to 8-13-2 to post their highest win total since the MCHA was formed in 1998-99.

         
Left to right: Dakota Dubetz (Marian) ... Connor Toomey (MSOE) ... Mike Lennon (Northland)

Players of the Week

-Marian University Sabres sophomore forward Dakota Dubetz (Chestermore, AB) is the MCHA Player of the Week for almost single-handedly leading his team to a pair of wins on the weekend. In Friday's win, Dubetz scored a power-play goal, tallied two assists and was +2 in the contest. Then, on Saturday, he was +4 and had four assists in the 6-3 win, giving him a hand in seven of the 11 goals that Marian scored in the series.

Other nominees: Mike Dahlinger (Adrian), Todd Krupa (MSOE), Daniel McIntosh (Northland)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) was at it again to earn MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. The construction management major is in the midst of one of the best seasons at the NCAA D-III level, posting two more victories in the sweep of Lake Forest, his fourth shutout of the season and a save percentage of .959 for the week. He is now second in the country in both goals against average at 1.68 (first is 1.59) and save percentage at .933 (first is .934).

Other nominees: Quinn Waller (Adrian), Shaun Newman (Northland), Tommy Fitzpatrick (Marian)

-Northland College LumberJacks freshman forward Mike Lennon (Reedsburg, Wisconsin) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week. The business major had a strong showing for his team, helping it clinch a playoff spot Friday with two goals and one assist in the 3-2 win. In addition to scoring the first goal of the contest, he assisted the second goal shorthanded and won it when he lit the lamp in overtime. Lennon also added an assist Saturday and was +4 for the weekend.

Other nominees: Michael Thompson (MSOE), Josh Cousineau (Adrian), Matt Williams (Marian)

The top four teams in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association standings had a strong showing on the ice over the weekend, going a combined 7-1 to keep pace with each other in the division races as we head down the stretch.

Adrian College and  MSOE remain tied atop the MCHA Southern Division, each sweeping a weekend series to move to 14-1-1 in league play and 17-3-1 overall. The Bulldogs topped Lake Forest College in a pair, winning 6-1 and 5-3. The Raiders defeated Concordia University, 5-1 and 3-1, with Friday's victory securing the Lake Michigan Cup once again for MSOE - a trophy that goes to winner of the season series between the Raiders and the Falcons. The victories keep the Raiders at No. 10 in this week's poll and move the Bulldogs up a spot to No. 5.

Despite having its nine-game win streak snapped, 2-1, against Finlandia University in the opener, Marian University bounced back with a 5-2 win Saturday to go to 12-4-0 at the top of the MCHA Northern Division. Lawrence University picked up a pair of points on the leaders with a sweep of Northland College, recording victories of 5-0 and 4-2 and will play the Sabres in a home-and-home series this upcoming weekend. The loss to LU Friday snapped the LumberJacks four-game unbeaten streak.

Left to right: Brad Houston (Adrian) ... Jonathon Sheridan (Lawrence) ... William Thoren (Lawrence)

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior forward Brad Houston (Chatham, ONT) is the MCHA Player of the Week. He was +2 and had an assist in the opener Friday and topped that with his performance Saturday. In addition to breaking the 3-3 tie early in the third period with the game-winning goal, he assisted two others to get the Bulldogs the sweep.

Other nominees: Jordan Keizer (MSOE), Dakota Dubetz (Marian), Jonathon Sheridan (Lawrence)

-Lawrence University Vikings senior defenseman Jonathon Sheridan (Midland, Mich.) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. The biology major recorded two assists in the opening win Friday - including one on the game-winner. On Saturday, he broke a 2-2, third-period tie with the game-winning goal and was +4 for the weekend, on the ice for six of the team's nine goals.

Other nominees: Michael Thompson (MSOE), Bobby Hineman (Adrian)

-Lawrence University Vikings freshman defenseman William Thoren (Gothenburg, Sweden) gives his team a pair of award winners as the MCHA Freshman of the Week. He helped his team to a sweep with three assists and was +3 in the two contests.

Other nominees: West Bauman (MSOE)

A year after being named a finalist, Adrian College senior Sam Kuzyk has once again been revealed as a nominee for the 2011 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award. He is among a list of 25 and one of three returning nominees (Mario Mjelleli of Augsburg/Brigid O’Gorman of Connecticut College). Finalists will be announced later this month with the award scheduled to be presented on Friday, April 8 at the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn. Kuzyk was recently featured in an articlae on NCAA.com. The text of that article, written by Elliot Olshansky, appears below.

Kuzyk experiences memorable year
Adrian College senior finalist for Hockey Humanitarian Award

Plenty of storylines remain in place as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association enters the final month of the regular season. In the Southern Division, Adrian College and MSOE both swept weekend series to remain deadlocked heading down the stretch. The Bulldogs (6-1 and 9-2 winners over Finlandia) and Raiders (2-0 and 4-2 over Lawrence) are now tied at 12-1-1 in MCHA play and, coincidentally, 15-3-1 overall. A head-to-head series to close out the regular season looms the final weekend.

In today's USCHO.com national poll, AC moves up two spots to No. 6, while MSOE returns to the top 10, at No. 10.

Northland College continues its recent run of success, earning a win and tie against Concordia over the weekend (8-3 and 4-4) to run its current unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2). The LumberJacks now have a record of 6-11-2 overall, the best mark in program history since finishing 6-19-0 in 2000-01. Lastly, in the Northern Division, Marian University swept past Lake Forest by scores of 4-1 and 4-3. That, combined with the Vikings falling to the Raiders, opened up the lead in the division to a commanding six points for the Sabres.

         
Left to right: Eric Miller (Adrian) ... Connor Toomey (MSOE) ... Ben Lauder (MSOE)

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior forward Eric Miller (Erlanger, Ky.) is the MCHA Player of the Week for his offensive exploits against Finlandia over the weekend. The high-scoring left-winger netted two goals on Friday and wrapped up the weekend with a hat trick - including the game-winner - in Saturday's victory.

Other nominees: Chad Moore (Northland), Brendan Hull (Marian), Ben Lauder (MSOE)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) repeats as the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week, claiming the award for the league-high fifth time this season. The construction management major posted his national-best third shutout of the season Friday and saved 51 of 53 shots (.962 save %) on the weekend while recording a 1.00 GAA.

Other nominees: Quinn Waller (Adrian), Brady Vandenberk (Northland), Alex Bjerk (Marian)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders freshman forward Ben Lauder (Fort McMurray, Alberta) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week. The mechanical engineering major had a power play goal and two assists on the weekend, finishing +2. The two assists were crucial, setting up the game-winners both nights.

Shawn Skelly of Adrian College continued to add to his resume of records Friday night when he collected career assist No. 84 in Midwest Collegiate Hockey League action. That broke the career mark of 83, held by former Finlandia University forward Josh Paquette (2004-08).

Skelly, who already holds career MCHA marks for points and goals, tied the mark in the first period of tonight's game against Finlandia and then eclipsed it in the third period when he set up Jordan Watt's goal at the 7:44 mark.

Skelly started the season third on the career list, passing the second-place mark of 75 (Lee Swallow, MSOE, 2004-2008) earlier in the campaign.

Editor's note: With three assists in Saturday's game, fellow Bulldog Mike Dahlinger has now tied Skelly (who also recorded one on Saturday) with 85 career assists in MCHA play.

As the month of January comes to a close, the race in the Southern Division remains tight in the Midwestern Collegiate Hockey Association. Both Adrian and MSOE moved to 10-1-1 in league play with weekend sweeps, with the Bulldogs overcoming a 3-1 deficit late in the second period of their 4-3 victory over Lawrence Friday night. They completed the series with a 3-1 win Saturday. The Raiders took care of business with two big wins, posting victories of 6-1 and 5-1 over Finlandia University on the road.

With a win and a tie against Lake Forest, Northland equaled its season totals from all of 2009-10 (5W/1T) after 17 games. A score with just over a minute left in regulation helped earn the 4-4 draw Friday before coming up with a 4-2 victory Saturday. In other action, Marian ran it's winning streak to seven games overall with a 6-1 decision over Concordia. Adrian (No. 8), MSOE (No. 12) and the Sabres (receiving votes) all remain in the new USCHO.com national poll that came out today.

-Left to right: Kraig Wright (Northland) ... Connor Toomey (MSOE) ... Tom Glomski (Marian)

Players of the Week

-Northland College LumberJacks sophomore forward Kraig Wright (Corruna, ONT) is the MCHA Player of the Week for his role in his team's 1-0-1 week. He started out the weekend with two goals and an assist in the 4-4 tie with Lake Forest, netting the eventual game-tying goal with just 78 seconds left in regulation. He followed that up by assisting the game-winner Saturday.

Other nominees: Andrew Dovey (Adrian), Steven Shaffroth (MSOE), Lane Boswell (Marian)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week for the league-high fourth time this season. The construction management major's play could not be overlooked in MSOE's sweep of Finlandia, stopping 47 of 49 shots in the pair of contests (.959 save %) with a goals against average of 1.00. He also held the Lions without a goal on 14 power-play opportunities.

-Marian University Sabres freshman forward Tom Glomski (Waupun, Wis.) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week. His team had just one game this week, but he played a key role. After scoring just one point on the campaign, Glomski netted the first goal of the game in the win over Concordia. He followed that up with two more assists. Playing the third line, he ended the night +2 with those three points.

Other nominees: Steven Shaffroth (MSOE)

The first-ever Midwestern Collegiate Hockey Association game between two teams ranked in the Top 10 is in the books, and Adrian College prevailed with a 6-1 victory Friday. In the second game of the series, MSOE pulled ahead, 2-1, but a third-period goal by the Bulldogs wrapped up the scoring in the 2-2 tie. With the 1-0-1 weekend, AC pulled even with the Raiders in the division race - each with 8-1-1 records. In the new USCHO.com poll released earlier today, Adrian now checks in at No. 9 and MSOE at No. 11.

Marian University and Lawrence University are battling for the lead in the Northern Division, and each team took care of business on the weekend, with the Sabres sweeping Northland College and the Vikings taking a pair on the road at Finlandia. Lake Forest also helped itself in the standings, taking a pair of games from Concordia over the course of the week. More league action is upcoming this weekend.

Left to right: Dakota Dubetz (Marian) ... Jameson Raymond (Lawrence) ... Michael Thompson (MSOE)

Players of the Week

-Marian University Sabres sophomore forward Dakota Dubetz (Chestermore, AB) wins the MCHA Player of the Week award for his offensive display in his team's sweep of Northland. Dubetz got off to a quick start Friday with two first-period goals. He followed that performance up on Saturday with a hat trick to give him a league-best seven points (5G/2A) on the weekend. He was +3 in the pair of contests and had a hand in seven of the Sabres 15 goals.

Other nominees: Eric Miller (Adrian), Phil Bushbacher (Lake Forest), Josh DeSmit (Lawrence), Jordan Keizer (MSOE)

-Lawrence University Vikings junior defenseman Jameson Raymond (Flint, Mich.) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week for his effort in helping LU keep pace in the division standings with a weekend sweep. The history major netted two goals - including the game-winner - in the opener and was +4 on the weekend, logging over 25 minutes both nights.
Other nomiees: Devin Schmitt (MSOE), Tommy Fitzpatrick (Marian)

--Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders freshman defenseman Michael Thompson (Farmington Hills, MI) is this week's MCHA Freshman of the Week for the second time this season. The business major had a goal and an assist in the top-10 matchup, including a score that put the Raiders up, 2-1, in Saturday's contest.
Other nominees: Matt Brown (Marian)

Six of the eight teams in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association have games under their belts in 2011 and a key weekend of conference play lies ahead. Featured in play this week will be another first for the MCHA - a matchup of two league teams that are both ranked in the Top 10.

When the new USCHO.com poll came out this week, Adrian moved back up to No. 8 after beating Buffalo State. Then, MSOE is also up a pair of spots, jumping from No. 11 to No. 9 after taking a pair of games from Lake Forest last week to move to 8-0-0 in league play. That sets up the big showdown, as the Bulldogs are 7-1-0 and will host the Raiders in games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

Marian (6-3-0 and hosting Northland) and Lawrence (5-3-0 and at Finlandia) will also have a chance to continue the battle in the division.

Left to right: Shawn Skelly (Adrian) ... Daniel McIntosh (Northland) ... Josh Cousineau (Adrian)

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior forward Shawn Skelly (Wolverine Lake, Mich.) is the MCHA Player of the Week. He helped the Bulldogs to a pair of wins since the calendar turned 2011, scoring two goals in the victory over Buffalo State - with the first being the 200th point of his MCAA career. He also had three assists against Nichols back on Jan. 1.

Other nominees: Colin McIntosh (Northland), Brad Tierney (MSOE)

-Northland College Lumberjacks goalie Daniel McIntosh (Winnipeg, MB) is the first MCHA Defensive Player of the Week for 2011. He played a key role in the series split against Lawrence, making 23 saves and holding the Vikings to an 0-for-4 showing on the power play in his team's 3-2 win Saturday. He also had 32 saves in the 3-2 loss Friday, giving up just one goal on eight extra-man opportunities.

Other nominees: Devin Schmitt (MSOE)

-Adrian College Bulldogs forward Josh Cousineau (Penetang, ONT) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week. He helped the Bulldogs cap an impressive comeback against Buffalo State. Down 5-2 in the third period, AC netted five goals in the final frame, with Cousineau lighting the lamp for the eventual game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in the game.

Other nominees: Devin Schmitt (MSOE), Colin Moberly (Northland)

The members of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association continue to post solid results in non-conference games in 2010-11 and last week was no exception. The league recorded three more wins and a tie last week, with Lawrence University getting things started with a 1-1 tie at #15 UW-Superior Tuesday.

In addition to the Vikings, #8 MSOE split a weekend series against a St. Thomas team receiving votes in the national poll, Marian University beat St. Mary's and Northland College posted its first victory in non-league play since 2004 when the LumberJacks topped Bethel.

Lastly, Finlandia University also gave #6 Gustavus Adolphus a run for their money, falling by just one goal in the opener Friday night. Once again, the league has two members in the Top 10 of the newest USCHO.com national poll, with Adrian at No. 7 followed by the Raiders at No. 9.

Just a reminder, with only a handful of teams playing the rest of the 2010 portion of the season, the next weekly report will come out Monday, January 10.

         
Left to Right: Dakota Dubetz (Marian) ... Evan Johnson (Lawrence) ... Michael Thompson (MSOE)

Players of the Week

-Marian University Sabres sophomore forward Dakota Dubetz (Chestermore, AB) is the MCHA Player of the Week after helping his team go 2-0 and having a hand in five of the team's eight goals in the two contests. Against St. Mary's Friday, he assisted the game-winner while adding another assist on the power play. He followed that up with one goal and two assists in a 4-1 win over Concordia, netting the tying goal and assisting the winner once again. He finished the weekend +3.

Other nominees: Todd Krupa (MSOE)

-Lawrence University Vikings senior goalie Evan Johnson (Suwanee, GA) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week for his effort in the contest against #15 Superior. The economics major made 35 saves on 36 shots against the Yellowjackets, giving his team a 2-2-1 record against non-league opponents this season. He made three of his biggest saves on penalties - helping Lawrence kill of a pair of 5-vs.-3 and a 4-vs.-3 situation - in going 0-for-6 overall.

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders freshman defenseman Michael Thompson (Farmington Hills, MI) is this week's MCHA Freshman of the Week. The business major had an outstanding weekend, tying Saturday's game at 4-4 to get it to overtime just seconds after the man advantage was up. He also assisted on Jordan Keizer’s 4-on-4 goal where he forced a turnover in the defensive zone to get the 2-on-1 full-ice rush. For the weekend he was +4.

Other nominees: Matt Brown (Marian)

It was a memorable day last Saturday when Adrian College and Concordia University met at Michigan Stadium for the "Frozen Faceoff", the first-ever NCAA D-III hockey game to be played outdoors. The following are photos and blogs from players on each team on that memorable day.

Brad Fogal, Adrian College

Forty-eight hours after the Frozen Faceoff, I am finally able to sit down and reflect on this past weekend’s events. For me, it was one of those events that snuck up fast and seemed to be over even faster. In the week leading up to the game I was frequently being asked to comment on the thoughts and feelings I was experiencing for the upcoming weekend. It came as a shock to most people when I would reply that I had never been nervous, or overly excited. That I, in fact, hadn’t given too much thought to the game. I explained that I was trying to not over think it, nor let this historic event overwhelm me. As hard as it was, I was trying to take this game the same as any other I have ever played. I still had a job to do and needed to stay focussed on the task at hand, which was stopping pucks and helping my team win. I wanted to let everything happen and come to me naturally, no perceived images, nothing to look forward to, just let everything happen and take it in as it did.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t get that butterfly feeling until Saturday morning. Loading the bus and getting ready to head out, it finally hit me. I couldn’t help but feel the excitement and anticipation. Words can’t describe the sight and feelings that hit you as you pull up to the tunnel of Michigan Stadium. I can only imagine what it would be like walking up to the Roman Coliseum in the midst of its glory. The size, history and the shear respect you feel for it when you step off the bus is extremely intimidating. Dressing in the Wolverines locker room was a humbling experience. Sitting and preparing to compete in the same room as so many great athletes was an honor.

It was a long walk down the tunnel from the dressing room to the field, but once you came to the opening of that tunnel and were able to look out at one of the most historic football fields in the world converted to an ice rink. I would have walked miles to see and experience that. If the chill in the air hadn’t already given you goose bumps, that surely did.

The game itself was almost a blur. I found myself looking up into the stands and my surrounding every chance I had. I knew that the game itself would fly by, so I wanted to take as many mental pictures as I could. There is a big difference, I think, between experiencing an event like this as a player compared to a fan or any other observer. As athletes we don’t get to sit back and take it all in like everyone else can. We do get caught up in the game and sometimes forget where we are when focused on the play. However, what we get to take from this that no one else can, is the recollection of the game and event through our eyes. No one person’s experiences an event like this the same way. Every player looked up and drifted off in the surrounding at a different time, reminisced about playing with their childhood friends out on the pond or backyard rink and had a different memory.

It is the individual memories; the ones no one else gets to experience that makes this type of event so special for us athletes. I think you always wish you took some more time to soak everything up and walk away with more memories, but sometimes that is just not realistic. You take away what you can and hold onto those memories for the rest of your life. History was made and I had the privilege of being a part of it. I can’t thank everyone enough who made this event possible. From a player’s perspective, it was relaxing to know that all we had to worry about was playing hockey and enjoying this once in a life time experience. I’d like to thank all the fans and supporters who came out and bared the cold. I hope it was as memorable for you as it was for us.

Jari Sanders, Concordia

The second that word started to spread that our hockey team was going to have a chance to play at the University of Michigan's "The Big House", we were ecstatic. The team went about our normal business all week long, we had a good week of practice and we all were looking forward to the weekend ahead.

After a six-hour bus ride, we arrived at the hotel in Adrian. Before we could start getting excited for the game on Saturday at Michigan, we had to be ready for our first contest on Friday night. We played hard, but fell short, 4-1, on Friday night. The guys worked hard and the good news was that we would have another game just ten hours later, at The Big House. Players were in bed early but many of them told me that they were having trouble sleeping with all the excitement about playing in the first D-III outdoor game ever.

Usually around 7 a.m. we are a quiet group, but that day, we were ready to get on the bus and head to the rink/field. Pulling into the stadium, you could hear a buzz starting to stir on the bus. Then you had 30 guys with smiles across their faces when we looked at center ice sitting on the 50 yard line, surrounded by a 100,000 seat stadium.

The rink looked amazing, and every aspect of the pre-game was handled with such professionalism. The walk from the locker room to the ice sheet was a surreal moment. Some of the greatest college football players of all time have made that same walk. The weather was perfect and the ice was in great condition. You could see heads turning left and right trying to take in all of the surroundings. After all the pre-game festivities, now we had a game to play.

We played hard but lost the game, 3-0, the experience was something that my teammates or I will never forget. It is also great for the MCHA, along with  Division III hockey  to be the first to hold such an event, with 2,000 people in attendance.This was hands down the greatest hockey experience of my life, and our team gives thanks Adrian College for letting us be apart of such a memorable event.

OPENING FACEOFF

During the month of November, members of the Northland College Hockey Team took part in the national event "Mo-vember" to raise awareness and funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The hockey team grew moustaches and encouraged members of the student body, faculty and staff to take part in the event as well. They also designed and sold t-shirts on campus, in the community and to friends and family. The hockey team sold over 250 shirts (shown below) and were able to donate $2000.00 in proceeds to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Accoring to the website movember.com, "Mo-vember" challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st  clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.  Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

It was an exciting week in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association and, at the end of the weekend, the league now has two members of the USCHO.com top 10 when the new poll came out today. Adrian, which took on Concordia in the first-ever outdoor NCAA D-III contest, moves up from No. 9 to No. 7. MSOE, which improved to 8-0-0 on the season with a sweep of St. Mary's, has joined the Bulldogs in the top 10 at No. 8.

Adrian did sweep the Falcons by scores of 4-1 Friday and then 3-0 in the contest played at Michigan Stadium. Look for pictures from the event and player blogs to be posted to the MCHA website some time this week.

The Raiders continue to take care of business, defeating St. Mary's by scores of 2-0 and 7-1. Meanwhile, in a big MCHA Northern Division battle, Marian helped its cause with a sweep of Lawrence, taking down the Vikings by scores of 10-2 and 5-2. Northland also had a solid weekend, recording a pair of 5-2 victories over Finlandia. Lastly, Lake Forest dropped a pair of games to Wisconsin-River Falls.

Lots of non-conference action upcoming for the league this weekend, as the MCHA looks to add to it's resume of non-league victories in 2010-11.

Left to Right: Jordan Keizer (MSOE) ... Connor Toomey (MSOE) ... Matt Williams (Marian)

Players of the Week

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders sophomore forward Jordan Keizer (Edmonton, Alberta) is the MCHA Player of the Week after accounting for two-thirds of MSOE's offense in a weekend sweep of St. Mary's. The business major had five goals in the series, scoring both in a 2-0 win Friday night. Then, on Saturday, he lit the lamp three more times - scoring the third one short-handed - and assisted on the game-winner.

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) gives his team a pair of award winners as the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week - his third honor of the season. The construction management major nearly posted two shutouts on the weekend to help his team improve to a perfect 8-0 and crack the Top 10 this week. He stopped 46 of 47 shots for a .979 save percentage and allowed just one goal for a 0.50 GAA. In addition, he helped keep the Cardinals shutout on the power-play (0-for-11) in the two games.

Other nominees: Daniel McIntosh (Northland), Brad Fogal (Adrian), Jeremy Cross (Adrian), Matt Berger (Marian)

-Marian University freshman forward Matt Williams (Lacombe, AB) earns his second MCHA Freshman of the Week honor after scoring five of his teams 15 goals in a big sweep of Lawrence. The business management major found the back of the net twice in Friday's win and then recorded a hat trick Saturday to finish the weekend +6.

Other nominees: Reed Smith (Northland), Josh Baker (Marian), Mike Schenfeld (MSOE), Matt Berger (Marian)

Adrian College men's hockey team will take on Concordia University at Michigan Stadium Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and they need your help to break the NCAA Division III men's hockey attendance record of 5,600! The first 5,601 fans in attendance will receive a free winter cap!

Michigan is also offering the game live on a web cam:

Click HERE to watch the historic contest!!

Just scroll down the page to view.

Warm-ups are at 9 a.m. with the game starting at 9:30 a.m.

WABJ 1490 AM in Adrian will be covering the game locally for Lenawee County listeners. Also, WVAC the student-run radio station at Adrian College will also be offering a live audio stream of the event at http://www.loudcity.com/stations/wvac-fm/tune_in.

Tickets
$10 for bowl seating for anyone 13 and over
$2 for bowl seating for kids 12 and under
Adrian, Concordia and U of M students are FREE with student ID
Tickets will also be available at Gate 2 on day of the game

Parking
There will be parking at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School which is located at 601 West Stadium Boulevard at the intersection of Stadium and Main Street for $10.

Tailgate
There will be a pregame and postgame tailgate located in the Ann Arbor Pioneer parking lot for fans. The postgame tailgate will feature Randy's BBQ for a cost of $3 per person which includes a sandwich, chips and a cookie.

Transportation
There will be bus transportation available the morning of the event. The buses are a $5 charge which is a round-trip ticket. The buses are leaving at 7:30 AM from the Merillat Sport & Fitness Center parking lot and departing from Ann Arbor at 1:00 PM. Buses are open to everyone including the general public. Order Your Bus Tickets in Advance to Secure Your Spot!

To purchase advance tickets and bus pass, please call Kate Hamilton at 517-265-5161 ext. 5011

For more information you can e-mail your questions to frozenfaceoff2010@adrian.edu

There were plenty of contests against nationally-ranked teams and, once again, the MCHA put up some quality wins during play over the week of Thanksgiving. The most notable was a defeat of a top-10 team, as Adrian College knocked off No. 5 Hamline by a score of 4-1. Lake Forest started off the week with a challenge for No. 3 St. Norbert, falling by a slim margin of 2-1 on Tuesday. Lawrence then continued its strong play in 2010, defeating St. Scholastica for the first time in program history with a 4-2 win Friday.

The league gets back to conference play the first weekend of December, with six of the teams playing two-game series in head-to-head play. In other action, MSOE - which moved up to No. 11 in this week's USCHO.com national poll - takes on St. Mary's and Lake Forest battles a River Falls squad that is receiving votes in the poll as well.

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior forward Shawn Skelly (Wolverine Lake, Mich.) is the MCHA Player of the Week. Skelly (pictured at left) was named Offensive MVP for Adrian in the Hackett Builders Showcase after having a goal and an assist Friday and then helping out with two goals and an assist in Saturday's win over No. 5 Hamline.

Other nominees: Matt Hughes (Lawrence)

-Lawrence University Vikings sophomore goalie Michael Baldino (Woburn, Mass.) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against St. Scholastica. The economics major (pictured at right) stopped 33 of 35 shots in the win, marking not only his first career victory, but also the first-ever in the program history over St. Scholastica as well. He highlighted his play with two saves in the final minutes with the Saints having an extra attacker.

Other nominees: Shawn Courtney (Adrian)

Adrian College swept a pair of games from Lake Forest College to highlight a week in the MCHA schedule that featured just six total games. The Bulldogs recorded victories of 3-1 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday to improve to 5-1 on the season. In addition, they played an exhibition against the Czech Republic Under 18 Team and finished with a 5-2 win at Arrington Ice Arena.

The holiday weekend willl be filled with exciting action, with the MCHA facing off against several nationally-ranked teams in Thanksgiving tournaments. Things get underway Tuesday, with Lake Forest taking on No. 3 St. Norbert and Concordia facing No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus. Adrian welcomes No. 5 Hamline to its tournament, while Lawrence and Marian - both again receiving votes in the poll - play in the Vikings' tournament featuring St. Norbert and St. Scholastica.

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs sophomore forward Andrew Dovey (Burlington, Ontario) is the MCHA Player of the Week. Dovey (pictured above left) started his week with a goal in the 3-1 win over Lake Forest Friday evening. Dovey then followed that up with the game-tying goal and the game-winner early in the second period Saturday for two goals during the game.

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior defenseman Jeremy Klaver (Strathroy, Ontario) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. Klaver (pictured above right) had three assists on Saturday to help in the sweep of Lake Forest.

MSOE and Lawrence University each posted weekend sweeps to make some noise and set the stage for an exciting, wide-open run at the regular season championship in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association this year. The victories help the MCHA earn another unprecedented feat when the national poll came out Monday, as four teams are now in the USCHO.com rankings. Adrian moved back up to #10, MSOE entered at #15, while Marian University and Lawrence are both in the receiving votes section - marking the first time the MCHA has had half of its teams in the poll.

The Raiders moved to 6-0 on the season with two big wins, knocking off No. 15 Marian by scores of 4-2 Saturday and 2-1 Sunday. The Sabres had entered the series on a roll, having snapped then-No. 10 Adrian's long league winning streak and beating a Superior team Friday night that was receiving votes in the national poll as well.

The Vikings improved to a perfect 4-0 in league play with 4-1 and 4-2 victories over Lake Forest College. The Bulldogs bounced back to record a series sweep of their own, taking a pair from Northland by finals of 5-3 and 4-2. Lastly, Concordia earned its first win of the season when the Falcons split a pair of games at Finlandia.

         
(Left to right): Jordan Keizer (MSOE), Connor Toomey (MSOE), Huck Saunders (Lawrence)

Players of the Week

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders sophomore forward Jordan Keizer (Edmonton, Alberta) is the MCHA Player of the Week for his exploits on the ice in a huge sweep of nationally-ranked Marian over the weekend. The business management major tallied a hat trick in the opener, scoring the game-winner and adding the final goal in the 4-2 decision. Then, on Sunday, he assisted the early MSOE goal in the 2-1 victory to have a hand in four of the six goals the team scored on the weekend.

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) gives his team a pair of award winners as the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. The construction management major recorded both of the wins over #15 Marian, holding the potent Sabre offense to three goals in the series (1.50 GAA). He also was a key figure in keeping the Marian power play off the score board for the weekend, forcing an 0-for-7 showing.

Other nominees: Evan Johnson (Lawrence)

-Lawrence University Vikings freshman forward Huck Saunders (Seattle, Wash.) is this week's MCHA Freshman of the Week. He helped his team stay unbeaten in league action with his play against Lake Forest. He posted two assists Friday and then had the game-winning power-play goal late in third period Saturday while adding an assist.

-Other nominees: West Bauman (MSOE)

Adrian College has made quite an impression on the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association and on college hockey overall since arriving on the scene in 2007. The team has set numerous records, but one that may not be broken has finally ended. For the first time since November 30, 2007, the Bulldogs lost an MCHA regular season game with the 5-4 defeat they suffered Saturday against Marian University. The loss not only snapped a 30-game win streak at home, but also the NCAA-record 56-game win streak in MCHA regular season play (65-straight in all games) the team also had.

It was a big weekend overall, with MSOE, Lake Forest College and Lawrence University all recording sweeps. MSOE extended its win streak with 5-2 and 5-1 wins over Northland, Lake Forest opened the campaign with 6-5 and 6-1 victories over Finlandia and Lawrence moved to 3-1-0 after topping Concordia, 5-1 and 5-4, including a comeback from being down 4-1 in the second game of the weekend.

When the dust settled and the new USCHO.com national poll came out today, the league had another noteworthy occurence  with three teams in the rankings. Adrian falls to #12 with the split, Marian is now 4-1-0 and rises to #15 and MSOE, with its 4-0-0 start, is also in the receiving votes section. The three teams only happened one other time, in November of 2009, when Adrian was ranked No. 5 and both Marian and Lawrence were receiving votes.

Left to Right: Zak Borowski (Lake Forest), Evan Johnson (Lawrence), Josh Baker (Marian)

Players of the Week

-Lake Forest College Foresters sophomore forward Zak Borowski (Gloucester, Mass.) is the MCHA player of the Week for his work on the ice in his team's 2-0 start. Borowski scored the game-winning goal in both of Lake Forest’s victories over visiting Finlandia University. His unassisted score at 2:28 in Friday night’s third period extended the Foresters’ lead to 6-4 and they held on for the 6-5 triumph. His goal with 32 seconds to play in Saturday’s second period broke a 1-1 tie and the home team pulled away in the third for a 5-1 win.

Other nominees: Brad Houston (Adrian), Matt Hughes (Lawrence), Brendan Hull (Marian), Brad Tierney (MSOE)

-Lawrence University Vikings senior goalie Evan Johnson (Suwanee, GA) earns the nod for MCHA Defensive Player of the Week. For starters, he made 28 saves in the win Friday to tie LU record for victories by a goaltender (30). Then, Saturday, Johnson came on in relief to stop all eight shots faced and lead the comeback over Concordia when trailing 4-1. He made three saves in 6 vs. 4 advantages for CU in final two minutes and became the all-time winningest goalie in LU history as a result.

Other nomiees: Brendan Sullivan (Lake Forest), Michael Thompson (MSOE)

-Marian University Sabres freshman goalie Josh Baker (Canton, MI) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week for earning the decision in Marian's big win over nationally-ranked Adrian. Baker got his first playing time in a Marian jersey halfway through the second period on Friday. That earned him the start on Saturday were he stopped 22 of 26 Adrian shots, some in spectacular fashion and earned the win.

Other nominees: William Thoren (Lawrence), Michael Thompson (MSOE)

Dubetz was awarded for his performance in leading the Sabres to a 3-0 start. He scored a goal in the season-opening win over Stout and followed that up with a goal and two assists in the second period Friday against Finlandia to put the game away. Lastly, he assisted the game-winner on the power play in overtime to send Marian past FU, 2-1, Saturday.

Toomey was named MCHA Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for his performance during MSOE's two victories against Concordia-Wisconsin this past weekend. Toomey logged a save percentage of .935 during those two games. He recorded his fourth career shutout Saturday night against the Falcons.

Williams got his college hockey career off to a good start with two goals against Stout. He followed that up with two assists Friday against Finlandia. For the week, Williams had two goals and two assists and was +1.

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Adrian College men's hockey team will get a chance to showcase their program on the biggest stage in college athletics on Saturday, December 4 as they will play the first outdoor game in the modern era of NCAA Division III hockey at Michigan Stadium. The Bulldogs will square off with MCHA opponent Concordia University (Wis.) at 9:30 am, one week before the Big Chill between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

"This is an outstanding opportunity to showcase our men's hockey team," said athletic director Mike Duffy. "NCAA Division III student-athletes work very hard and to reward them with an opportunity to play in a venue like the "Big House" may only come along once in a lifetime. This will be a moment that they will remember for the rest of their lives."

The Bulldogs feature one of the best programs in Division III and are currently ranked 10th in the nation by USCHO.com's preseason poll. Adrian College has captured three straight MCHA regular season and Harris Cup titles and are gunning for a fourth in 2010-11.

"Our program appreciates the opportunity given to us by Craig Wotta and the University of Michigan to hold the first men's Division III outdoor game at the Big House," said Adrian head coach Ron Fogarty who is entering his fourth year. "Over the past three years our team has competed against the USA-18 team, played overseas in Finland and competed for championships. Along with playing the Czech-18 team this November, this adds to the list of unique events that our players and staff have been able to experience while being at Adrian College."

The game was originally scheduled for a home game at Arrington Ice Arena which was set to begin at 3:00 pm. The contest will count towards both teams overall and conference records.

"Concordia University and our hockey players are honored to be involved in this game," said Concordia head coach Tony Hrkac who is entering his fourth year with the Falcons. "This venue showcases our great sport in a majestic way. This type of special event is huge for Division III hockey."

Ticket information about the event and other details are still unavailable at this time. As information becomes available it will be posted on the athletic website and distributed to the media.

Story courtesy of the Adrian College Sports Information Department

With the hockey regular season already underway for Marian University, Lawrence University and Concordia University, players and coaches alike are eager to start playing for real. The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association has begun its 13th season of play, with Finlandia University and MSOE also getting their 2010-2011 regular seasons rolling this weekend.

The USCHO.com preseason poll was released October 25, and for the third-straight season, the MCHA has a Top 15 preseason selection. Adrian has come in at No. 10, while Marian was also listed among teams receiving votes in the inaugural poll.

It has been a strong start across the league so far, with Lawrence (5-4 over Stevens Point) and then Marian (6-5 over Stout) both picking up quality non-conference victories over opponents receiving votes in the national poll the first weekend.

Season previews for each team below are courtesy of Matthew Webb and d3westhockey.com.

Adrian

My how time flies.

It seems like just yesterday that Adrian entered the realm of the MCHA with a crop of freshmen that, for better or worse, were the talk of Division III.  It seems you couldn’t talk hockey for more than 30 seconds without the Bulldogs being brought into the discussion.

The Bulldogs have posted a 77-8-1 record since their inception, but despite the continued success seem to finally have settled in for the long haul from a perception standpoint.  The MCHA finally got its autobid last season, which Adrian won, and many questions were answered as after falling down early to St. Norbert in the NCAA tournament, a late rally wasn’t enough and the Bulldogs were ultimately sent packing by the Green Knights.

The tact is different this season as, amazingly, that initial crop of freshmen are now seniors and back for one more go-round.

“It’s exciting -- as seniors there is a sense of desperation,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Ron Fogarty.  “The taste of winning three MCHA tournaments and then having the opportunity to go the NCAA tournament last year speaks volumes about these guys who started a program just three years ago.”

“Our mindset is that now we have to have a purpose or a game plan for each and every opponent we face.  Our first year we didn’t know what to expect, our second and third years our eyes were on the unrealistic prize of winning the national championship without going through the process.  Now this year it has to be one period at a time of doing the right things as there is going to be so much competition in the league.”

Littered with returning production, it will all start in goal this year with senior Brad Fogal once again being the go-to guy.  Fogal posted stellar numbers a year ago but struggled at times in higher pressure situations -- especially in a two-game sweep at the hands of Hamline.

“We need Brad to be our best player this year,” Fogarty said.  “For us to even be close to winning the MCHA and have an opportunity to go to the NCAA tournament he has to be the best player, every game.  [Freshman Mike] Morrissette will push him, so for the first time in four years we have guys capable of replacing Fogal if need be.”

Out in front of Fogal the Bulldogs defensive corps faces a significant loss as senior-to-be Chris Stansik will miss the year with a medical redshirt after having surgery this offseason.  Stansik led Adrian blueliners last season in scoring with eight goals and 30 assists.

“It’s a huge loss to have Stansik out for the year,” Fogarty said.  “But that gives an opportunity for a guy like Jeremy Klaver to step up.  He’s an excellent defenseman who has been a little overshadowed, but he’s going to play a lot.”

Klaver is also a senior and him, along with fellow seniors Bobby Hineman and captain Quinn Waller, are all expected to see significant ice time this season.

Adrian returns its top seven scoring forwards and six will be seniors this season.  Mike Dahlinger led the Bulldogs in scoring with 13 goals and 41 assists last season, while Sam Kuzyk’s 44 points, Shawn Skelly’s 42 and Brad Houston’s 40 were close behind.  Eric Miller is also back after a 35 point campaign and sophomore Zach Graham, the one non-senior of the bunch, was second on the team in scoring a year ago with 16 goals and 29 assists.

Two newcomers enter the fold as well as junior Jordan Watts, a transfer from Division I Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and freshman Josh Cousineau are expected to be fixtures somewhere on the Bulldogs’ top two lines.

Adrian will be highly interesting to follow this year as not only is it the last chance for the group of players that possibly garnered more discussion that any group in Division III college history, but the MCHA is now tougher than ever -- and that’s saying something considered Adrian survived two one-goal games in the Harris Cup semifinals and finals last year.

With numerous teams nipping at their heels, will this be the year Adrian is reeled in, especially considering they open with a Marian team that was less than ten minutes away from taking down the Bulldogs in last season’s MCHA title game?

“There are teams like Marian that just beat Stout and Lawrence who just beat Stevens Point that our team is more than aware of,” Fogarty said.  “Our league has gotten much, much stronger in the past three years.”

“Our only goal right now is to have a great game against Marian on November 5th at seven o’clock,” Fogarty said.   “Again, the last two years were a lot of if’s and should’ves and could’ves and things like that we paid far too much attention to.  Right now, our first game is going to be Marian’s fourth; it’s going to be a great test right off the bat.”

“If we even think about looking beyond anything like that we won’t be having much of a MCHA postseason to talk about.”

Concordia

Concordia University-Wisconsin enters its fourth season under head coach Tony Hrkac.  As expected, it has been a slow learning process since the team’s inception in 2007.  The Falcons are only 6-67-6 through their first three seasons, but Hrkac certainly believes the program has been improving in the fashion it needs to.

“That first year I had nothing to really go on as I had just come out of my playing career,” Hrkac said.  “I think we’ve improved a lot these past few years.  We’ve brought in a lot more kids that have played junior hockey at higher levels.  The first couple years were mostly high school kids from around the area.”

As the program naturally evolves, the Falcons will once again be relatively young this season, but that’s not to say they have no experience at all -- especially at forward.

“I think the second half of last year our freshman really came on -- especially the Douglas brothers,” Hrkac said.  “They really turned it up and have already had a really good week of practice this year.  We have a transfer from MSOE in Jake Furey, and him, Dustin Partacz and John Smith have been working together and really seem to have clicked as a line.”

The Douglas brothers, Joseph Greg and Graylyn, both had strong freshman campaigns last year and finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.  Expect the pair to be mainstays on the first line with Furey, Partacz and Smith together on the second line.

Smith, a senior, led the Falcons in scoring a year ago with 9 goals and 11 assists while Partacz added ten points, including seven goals, as a freshman.

From there things are bit more up in the air up front, though freshmen will get ample opportunities at the remainder of the forward positions.

“I know it’s early in the season and things can change, but for now it looks like we’re going to go with them,” Hrkac said.  After that the next two lines are going to be freshmen so it’s going to take them some time to adjust to the college game but I’m hoping that within six or seven games they are playing up to their potential.”

Hrkac singled out Dan Shilts, Mark Henke and Joshua Swancutt as newcomers who he expects to contribute on the scoresheet.

On the back end, the Falcons return a handful of key defensemen.  The unit is led by seniors Jari Sanders and Stephen Panas, along with junior Michael Zirk. Sophomores Michael Mulally and Jarred Lucas also garnered ample playing time a season ago.  Hrkac is especially high on Lucas.

“It’ll be a little better than the past couple years as we have a little more depth now,” Hrkac said.  “Lucas was a kid out of high school last year that was kind of a surprise.  He really didn’t play much in the first half but by the end of the year he was nothing flashy but he was very steady; always in the right place.  So we’re looking for him to step up even more.”

Like at the forward position, some freshmen will also be in the mix on the blue line and Hrkac pointed to Brandon Bayer and Mike Lezotte as two he expects to get looks early on.

Senior goaltender Michael Wyenn will start the year as the go-to-guy between the pipes.  Wyenn was 0-11-5 a season ago with a 5.52 goals against average and .884 save percentage.  Junior Everett Devlin also saw action in ten games last season and will be called upon should Wyenn stumble out of the gate.

“Right now I think [Wyenn] is our guy,” Hrkac said.  “He’s going to start and we’ll see how he does.”

Overall, the 2010-11 edition should be the best team the Falcons have yet to put on the ice, largely due to what Hrkac believed is an improved crop of recruits over the past two years.

After going winless a year ago, there is nowhere to go but up for the Falcons, but Hrkac is hoping that is exactly where they are headed.

“We still have a ways to go to catch up to a lot of teams in our league but I think we’re on the right track with the guys we brought in. We are improving a lot, but so is everyone else in the league,” Hrkac said.

“Last year was a tough year.  We had five or six ties and we need to win some of those.  I do think we’ve improved overall and have a little more depth this year so I’m not going to throw a number out there but we’d like to get somewhere up near double digit wins and it would be great if we were able to do that.”

Finlandia

Since winning back-to-back MCHA Harris Cup titles in 2006 and 2007, Finlandia has experienced a bit of a downslide.  The Lions posted 10 wins in 2008-09 and their 4-14-2 league record last season was not enough to qualify for the postseason.

Some of the struggles last year could possibly have been due to a coaching change midseason as around Christmas Athletic Director Chris Salani replaced then head coach Joe Burcar on an interim basis.  A national search for a new head man was conducted at the conclusion of the year, and enter John McCabe.

McCabe, a former assistant at Division I Alabama-Huntsville, enters his inaugural Division III season hoping to bring a new attitude and a plethora of new talent to Hancock.

“I was in Alabama for six years,” McCabe said.  “I worked under some pretty good coaches in Doug Ross and Danton Cole and I thought I was ready, finally, to take over the reins of my own program.

As far as Finlandia itself:

“It was one of the jobs that kind of appealed to me, just because it's such a hockey community here in the Copper Country area," McCabe said. "Hockey in the Hancock and Houghton area is huge. The premier sport at this school is men's hockey, and I thought it was an excellent opportunity to take a team that had some success in the past and to hopefully build it into a nationally successful program here in the next few years.”

In past years the Lions developed a bit of a reputation for an in-your-face up-tempo style, and under McCabe it appears very little will change:

“We're going to dictate the pace night in night out; we're going to be aggressive at both ends of the ice and all areas of the ice.  I think we do have a little skill and we're going to be organized and be on the same page at all times. We're going to play a good game.”

With an incoming class consisting of twelve recruits, the head coach won’t be the only thing new at Finlandia this season.

“I think we upgraded from last year,” McCabe said.  “We were fortunate to get some of what I think are high end Diviosion III players here.  There are some kids that I was recruiting at Huntsville that I was fortunate to get to come to Finlandia."

“If you look at some of the high end teams in the country you can see that you have to have that nice balance of grit along with skill guys that can put the puck in the net, and I think we will have a nice balance.”

Though newcomers figure to play a prominent role for the Lions this year, the club also has some returnees who will be crucial to their success.

In goal, Finlandia returns ample experience as senior Ryan Donovan and junior Mike Wuthrich both saw significant action a year ago, and which one ends up as the Lions’ number one is a question that remains to be answered.

“Those two are going to compete for the #1 job,” McCabe said.  “I believe it will be neck-and-neck all year long.  Donovan has a little more experience, while Wuthrich has done a heck of a job working this summer and really getting himself into the condition you need to be to be a number one guy.”

“After them we’ve got a freshman from Finland, Atte Haataja, who might be a bit of a darkhorse.”

Out in front of whoever is able to claim the starting job will be a revamped defensive corps as graduation and other losses leave the field nearly wide open.  However, the Lions do return juniors Cody Gallegos and Matt Wylie as well as sophomore Justin LaDouce.  Junior James Brey also joins the defensive fray this season after playing forward his first two years.

On top of the returners, McCabe also pointed to sophomore transfer Warren Webster along with freshman Kevin Smith as newcomers who could have an impact on the defensive side.

At forward the Lions will feature a bit of an overhaul, but they do return juniors Nemanja Jankovic and Charlie Benik.  Jankovic, a captain this year, notched 11 goals and nine assists last season while Benik chipped in with nine goals and seven assists.

Newcomers Jimmy Carter, Sebastian Rosendahl, Collin Saint-Onge and Sean Burke are also forwards McCabe pointed to as possible impact players up front.

The Lions are one of the few MCHA teams that can be decribed as “new-look” this year, but as far as what to expect from them?  Well, we’ll see, but in terms of what he hopes Finlandia is able to bring to the table:

“We have the mentality that we're going to go out and take each game one game at a time, go out and play our style of play, and we will not go into a game thinking we're going to lose,” McCabe said. “We're going to expect to win every game we step on the ice, we're going to go through the right process every week in practice, and we'll do our best and the boys will work their hardest.”

“We'll compete at that level every night. I think if we can do that and get some consistency and some puck management we can win some hockey games this year. I expect to win a heckuva lot more than five games.”

Lake Forest

Entering its second season in the MCHA, Lake Forest enters the 2010-11 campaign with a decidedly new look.  Gone is long-time and highly regarded head coach Tony Fritz, who retired at the conclusion of last season, and in his place is interim head coach Seamus Gregory.

Gregory, a Harbour Grace, Newfoundland native, had been an assistant under Fritz since 2008 while he also served as recruiting coordinator.  Heading into his first season as head coach, he knows he has some large shoes to fill.

“You're obviously never going to replace a guy like Tony Fritz, that's for sure,” Gregory said. "He's been a great mentor to me and actually one of the main reasons why I'm in the position that I’m in.”

“While I don't think you're ever going to replace him, you just need to instill some of the same characteristics that he brought to the program and some new additions as well. In regards to taking over, it's been a little bit of a change but the kids are taking it pretty well.”

Lake Forest finished in fifth place at 8-10-2 in its inaugural MCHA season, but scored an opening round playoff win over MSOE before falling 4-3 to Marian in the conference semifinals.

As far as what to expect from the Foresters in general under Gregory:

“I think we'll play a little different style. We've hired a few pretty good coaches here and we've got a young staff with some new initiatives we want to bring forth. Style-wise we will still be a hard working team and we’re obviously going to center on our defense.”

Defense starts in goal and the Foresters expect a wide open competition for the number one job.  Sophomores Brendan Sullivan, Austin Erney and Mike McDonald all return, and transfer Mike Stewart also will enter the fold.  Sullivan saw the most action a year ago as he appeared in 19 games for the Foresters.

“It's been a battle for sure,” Gregory said.  “We haven't designated a number one. I think all the guys are working hard and competing hard. With our long time off here, we don't play till November 5th against Finlandia so we're still kind of up in the air right now.  It’s possible we share duty back there until we find a number one.”

Out in front of whoever is able to claim the starting goalie spot is a group of defensemen that, though young, Lake Forest feels is the strength of its club.

Sophomore Trent Brown returns after being named to the MCHA all-freshmen team a year ago, and he is joined by fellow sophomores Mike Rubino and Chad Thompson.  Rubino led the Foresters’ blueliners in scoring last year with three goals and 13 assists.

We think our strength is our D, actually, but we're really young back there,” Gregory said.  “We're pretty solid on the point. It's a battle back there, but all the guys are working hard just to be in the lineup every day right now.”

He also singled out Ben Finney, a transfer from Division I Robert Morris, as well as freshman David Cherup as newcomers who could very well be in the mix.

At forward, the Foresters lose Justin Taylor and Adam Love to graduation.  Taylor’s 26 points were second most on Lake Forest last season, while Love tallied 18.  Aside from that, however, the entirety of their production returns.

Sophomore Thomas Bark led the team in scoring a year ago with seven goals and 21 assists, while fellow sophomore Marc Rubino posted 11 goals and 21 assists.  Senior Peter Pfeffer is coming off a 26 point campaign while seven others, six of whom were freshmen a year ago, are back after tallying in double digits.

Gregory also specified that numerous newcomers should be in the fold this year and that production is to be expected, the same as it was last season.

All told, it will definitely be a bit different seeing the Foresters hit the ice without Tony Fritz behind the bench, but Gregory and his staff are young, motivated and have experience within the Lake Forest system. At the same time, the staff fully expects to improve further on last year’s significantly improved team.

“We're not going to give any false sense of who we are and what we are,” Gregory said.  “We came off a couple of really lean years in the NCHA and we've only been a .500 team once in the past five years.  I hope we can finish a little higher than fifth this year, but our main goal this season is to get back to the second round of the playoffs -- we understand there are some teams ahead of us.  We hope to be in the mix every night.”

Lawrence

Two seasons ago Lawrence appeared to be on the verge of stepping up and challenging Adrian in the near future.  The Vikings’ 14-5-1 2008-09 conference campaign featured a MCHA North Division title and overall second place finish.

There was some regression last season, however, as the Vikings plodded to a 7-11-2 conference record which was good enough for a 5th place MCHA regular season finish.  They closed strong with a playoff sweep of Northland before losing a 3-2 barnburner to Adrian in the conference semifinals.

If Lawrence wishes to reclaim a spot in the top half the MCHA, head coach Mike Szkodzinski said it will all start with senior goaltender Evan Johnson, whose numbers dropped off decidedly last season after a stellar 08-09 campaign.

“Two years ago Evan was hands down one of the best goaltenders in our league if not the West Region.  I think last year showed him that it’s not a given that’s going to happen again,” Szkodzinski said.

While Szkodzinski expects his senior netminder to step up and regain his form of sophomore year, he also made it clear that sophomore Michael Baldino will push Johnson for playing time.

“We hope Evan rebounds from what we consider a subpar year, but [Baldino] had a great summer and by all accounts is ready to really push Evan,” Szkodzinski said.  “To be honest there isn’t a clear cut number one though I would expect Evan’s experience to play a big role in who becomes our number one.”

A defensive corps that allowed a shade over four goals per contest in league play last year returns nearly completely intact.  Junior blueliner Jameson Raymond led the way last season and also posted 22 points and spent significant time on the power play unit.  Senior Jonathan Sheridan along with juniors Corey Garrett and Colin Crowley round out the quartet that Szkodzinski expects to anchor the Vikings’ back end.

The one crucial loss to graduation this offseason was that of forward Marc Howe.  The all-conference forward led Lawrence in scoring last season with 19 goals and 13 assists.  By the time his career had finished, Howe had quietly scored more career goals in MCHA conference games than any player this side of Adrian.

“We’re going to have to see who steps up and puts the puck in the net.  After losing the leading goal scorer in Lawrence history, we need to fill that void,” Szkodzinski said.  ““We have a number of talented players who will now have an opportunity to play more minutes due to the loss of a guy like Marc Howe.  It’s going to be interesting to see who decides to step up and run with the opportunity.”

Juniors Ben DiMarco and Matt Hughes along with sophomore Gustav Ahlberg all tallied double digit goals and at least 20 points last season and will be expected to pace an offense that averaged 3.6 goals per game in conference action.

This season will mark a new frontier for Szkodzinski as for the first time in his Lawrence tenure the roster will be filled with entirely his own recruits.  In his mind, this year’s freshman class will be expected to contribute immediately the same way his previous classes have.

“I think we did a good job with this year’s class by bringing in a little more speed and a little more stick skill,” Szkodzinski said.  “I think we have more hockey sense that we have in the past.  We are excited to watch guys like Paul Zuke and William Thoren to see how fast they can adjust to the college game.  Overall there are probably five or six new guys who will get an opportunity right away.”

Despite the loss of Howe, it appears Lawrence returns enough firepower to improve on last season’s disappointing league finish, but at the same time Szkodzinski knows that, for now, Adrian and Marian have established themselves as the class of the league.

“I definitely feel like we can be very completive on any night, but at the same time we certainly have improvements to make to catch Marian and Adrian,” Szkodzinski said.  “But I think we’re certainly getting there and have taken a number of big steps.  We are playing the style that we as a staff had hoped to create at Lawrence.  We feel we play aggressive, we feel we are one of the hardest working teams in the league and we feel we are ready to compete with anybody right now.”

"If we can take that next step and get a big goal at a big moment or a key save at a key time, we feel we can be a very competitive team in this conference throughout the entire year.”

Marian

The 2009-10 campaign marked Marian’s best ever conference performance since joining the MCHA.  The Sabres’ rolled to an 18-2 league record with the only two blemishes coming at the hands of Adrian.

With the Bulldogs grabbing all the headlines late in the season, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Marian was less than ten minutes away from becoming the first MCHA team in the NCAA tournament. The Sabres actually led Adrian 2-1 after two periods in the Harris Cup championship game only to see the title slip away in the waning moments.

“That season was a big accomplishment.  I believe that we did overachieve,” said Sabres’ head coach Jasen Wise, who is 87-71-10 in seven seasons at Marian.  “We lost a lot of players to injury early in the season, had some forwards playing defense and had to move some guys around.  The guys had to come together and take on different responsibilities so to pull off some of those wins and go 18-2 in conference was huge for us just based on some of the adversity we faced.”

The Sabres return an overwhelming bulk of their offense this season, with the only real key loss at forward that of Nick Cinquegrani who put up 29 points a year ago.

“I’m very excited with our top two lines of [Brendan] Hull, [Dakota] Dubetz and [Brendan] Roberts as our top line and [Todd] Collins centering [Lane] Boswell and [Chris] Thompson as our second,” Wise said.

“We’re real happy with the chemistry there and have a couple freshmen coming in that have really stood out in Matt Williams and Robbie Bailey who will probably be playing on our third line with Justin Cormier.”

Hull, now a senior, led the Sabres in scoring last year with 21 goals and 18 assists while Dubetz and Roberts, both sophomores, tallied 36 and 21 points, respectively.  The Collins-Boswell-Thompson line was responsible for a combined 58 points.

Graduation hit Marian a bit harder on the blue line, but seniors Zack Fray and Nathan Brummitt along with sophomores Tommy Fitzpatrick and Mitch Kriz all return and should provide some stability early.  Fitzpatrick in particular had a stellar 09-10 season as he earned all-conference accolades while his six goals and 23 assists ranked third on the team in scoring.

“We are young on the blue line, but our two seniors and two sophomores played a lot of minutes last year, so they will be expected to lead,” Wise said.

“From there it will be up to our five freshmen to battle for the last two spots and if they can step in right away and play competitively we’ll be better off for that, but if it takes them a while to adjust we could get off to a slow start.”

Sophomore Alex Bjerk earned number one goaltending duties a year ago and with the graduation of senior Cullen Caldwell, Wise made it clear that the job is Bjerk’s to lose this season.

“He is our clear number one starter.  It’s his job right of the gates and if he runs the table, great, and if not we have a freshman we brought in that we are very impressed with so far.”

All told, it’s difficult to not expect another excellent MCHA performance from the Sabres as not only do they returning an overwhelming share of last season’s production, but as in past years, they are heavily pleased with this year’s group of newcomers.

“Our freshman class has made us faster,” Wise said.  "That’s one of the things we look for mainly as we play on an olympic sheet of ice, so we do look for speed and we will be faster this year.”

And as far as the firepower they have coming back:

“We are very happy with our returnees.  They all came back in great shape.  I think it shows that they have been thinking about that 3-2 loss to Adrian all summer and that they put in some real time in the weight room this summer.”

Finally, as to the loss to Adrian in the conference championship game, seeing a NCAA tournament appearance slip away in the final ten minutes is about all the motivation Wise and the Sabres need heading into this season.

“I think if Adrian had beaten us 8-2 like they did the year before we’d be sitting there feeling like we’re still a long way away.  But when they beat us 3-2 and score with 45 seconds left in the game we felt like we played well enough to win.”

“It’s definitely a little extra motivation for the guys knowing that they were that close.”

MSOE

A few short years ago Milwaukee School of Engineering was the class of the MCHA.  The Raiders scored three consecutive regular season crowns in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as well as Harris Cup playoff championships in ’05 and ’06.

The Raiders have been unable to replicate such performances over the past few seasons, partially due to the emergence of Adrian and Marian as top-flight teams, but it also has not helped that MSOE hasn’t been able to put a fully healthy team on the ice for the better part of two years.

As far as the 2010-11 season goes, Raiders’ head coach Mark Ostapina likes the talent his club will feature, but says health is going to be a key player.

“Staying healthy is the biggest thing,” Ostapina said.  “We missed 142 player games last year because of injuries in a 28 game schedule.  We’ve got to stay healthy.  Obviously when its broken bones there’s not much you can do about it, but that’s our biggest factor.”

The Raiders return a plethora of talent at the forward position.  They did lose Steve Smiddy to graduation and Brock King to career-ending concussion issues, but aside from that return everyone, including four sophomores in Bradley Tierney, Jordan Keizer, Nick Gorup and Sean McGaughy who were all among the Raiders’ top six scorers a year ago.  Tierney’s 26 points led the team in scoring.

They also return senior Michael Soik, who finished right behind Tierney with 14 goals and 11 assists, as well as junior Todd Krupa who checked in with nine goals and 16 assists.

“We’re very pleased with the performance of our freshman last year,” Ostapina said.  “We thought they did an outstanding job and in many, many situations they carried us.  When King went down they really stepped up."

“We’re looking for them to basically continue right where they left off.  Now they understand their role, understand what they are capable of and there is no feeling out period this year.”

He specifically pointed to Tierney and Keizer as players the Raiders’ expect even bigger and better things from.

Aside from 16 point defenseman Michael Johnson who graduated, on the blue line the Raiders return their entire corps from last season.  Juniors Ryno Linder and Ben Plocar as well as sophomore Carl Lindblad will be expected to lead the group early, and Ostapina thinks Lindblad could be poised for a breakout season.

He also is high on this year’s crop of defensive recruits and suspects freshmen Devin Schmitt and Mike Thompson could be major contributors early.

“We think we’ll be really, really good back there,” Ostapina said.  “We’ve got three freshmen from the North American Hockey League as well.  They are going to play a lot of minutes and play some significant roles; we are really expecting a lot from them.”

Junior goaltender Connor Toomey saw action in 22 games last season and held opponents to under three goals per game.  Heading into the season, the job is his to lose.

“Obviously after what he did last year Toomey is our number one going in,” Ostapina said.  “He was outstanding.”

Senior Chris Keller returns behind Toomey, and Ostapina is also high on an incoming freshman.

“We are expecting him and Keller to give Connor the rest he needs and to push him over the entire course of the season.”

Overall, Ostapina and the Raiders are hoping for big things this season.  High on both a talented group of returnees as well as with their recruiting class, will this be the year MSOE can stay healthy and make a push to once again stand atop the MCHA?

“Like always we’re shooting to win it all.  That’s all we want, it’s as simple as that,” Ostapina said.

“But we know the league is getting stronger and I think the MCHA will put a tremendous product out on the ice this season.  When it comes to Division III hockey I think the league is going to see a great season where anyone can beat anyone on a given night.”

Northland

For lack of a better phrase, Northland has long been a bottom-feeder in the MCHA.  Many of the Lumberjacks struggles have been due to their inability to retain talent and establish a true four-year recruiting cycle.

That may have all changed last season as, prior to the year, Lumberjacks’ head coach Steve Fabiilli spoke at length regarding his commitment to turn the program around and bring in players dedicated to his long-term goal of accomplishing just that.

It appears to have worked.

Northland tallied five wins in MCHA play a year ago and posted offensive numbers the likes of which they never had before.  Though the five wins don't seem overwhelming, they were enough to sneak the Lumberjacks past Finlandia and into the final MCHA postseason slot.

An experienced goaltender and defense played large parts in that, but so did a crop of newcomers that excelled in their inaugural collegiate seasons.  In news that bodes well for the Lumberjacks this season, aside from losses to graduation…they are all back.

"We have seventeen returners this year,” Fabiilli said.  “Off the top of my head this might be the first time that we've had more returners than incoming guys.  We definitely reached our goal in that regard with everyone coming back. We did lose some guys to graduation, a couple guys graduated early, and a couple guys transferred out, but those wanted something different for academic reasons or to have more opportunity to play.”

The only significant losses the Lumberjacks face this season are on the blue line.  Matt Tannenberg, Brian Zwawa and Joe Belanger were all four year staples for Northland, but all graduated.  The Lumberjacks will be young across the back this year though they remain confident in what they will bring to the table.

“We have one uppeclassman on the back end, which is probably going to be something we're going to have to watch,” Fabiilli said.  “Hopefully the young guys can adjust to college hockey sooner rather than later.”

“At the same time I don't think it's going to be an overly big concern for us. This year’s group is younger but they might be a bit more talented than in previous years. Some of them will make an adjustment really well from the get-go and some will need more time to develop, but that’s fine.”

Senior Shaun Newman, along with sophomores Brady Vandenberk and Jamieson Webking will be expected to the lead the way early, and Fabiilli also pointed to a pair of freshman in Randall Hanlan and Reed Smith that he expects to see ample ice time early on.

Should the defense stumble, senior goaltender Daniel McIntosh has proven on numerous occasions that he has the ability to shine.  Included in such performances is a game two years ago in which he turned back 95 of the 99 shots Adrian put on net.  The total is the highest non-overtime single game number of saves in NCAA men’s college hockey history.

“We'll see Mac in goal this year,” Fabiilli said.  "I think Daniel will have the opportunity right out of the gate.  His first two seasons here he had really solid save percentages considering where we were at the time.   Last year that kind of went down a little bit, so [we’re] looking for him to rebound and have a solid campaign, especially since it's his senior campaign.”

All that said, what really has Northland excited is its forwards.  The Lumberjacks return four players who tallied over 20 points a year ago, two of whom posted 30 or more.

Kraig Wright, now a sophomore, led the way last season with 12 goals and 19 assists, while senior Chad Moore was right behind him with 12 goals and 18 assists.  Sophomore Nick Hewko and junior Colin McIntosh also return and posted 29 and 20 points, respectively.

The Lumberjacks are also excited about a freshman crop of forwards that they feel can have as significant of an impact as last year’s newcomers did.

“I think we’ve added more depth,” Fabiilli said.  “Going back a few years ago we might had one or two lines that were playing in pretty much every situation and I know kind of got burned out here and there.”

“Last year we had guys playing some on the PK, some guys playing some power play, some guys playing both, so I don't think the burnout was there as much as previous years and I think we’ll be able to do even more of that this year.”

Overall, the Lumberjacks are no doubt excited about the upcoming season as for the first time in a long time not only do they return an overwhelming amount of their production, but also bring twelve newcomers into the fold that they hope can contribute in similar fashion.  As to what they expect from themselves this season?

“To make the playoffs last year was a really great thing for us,” Fabiilli said.  “So that’s our goal again this year.  We really aren’t into tossing specific numbers around in terms of wins, but making it to the postseason again is our priority and if we can do that we’ll see where we might be able to go from there.”

The Bulldogs received 48 points, garnering all but one possible first-place vote from the leagues eight head coaches (coaches could not vote for their own team).

They are now 77-8-1 overall after three seasons and have claimed the past three MCHA regular season and Harris Cup titles. The Bulldogs will carry an NCAA-record 55-game winning streak in conference play into the new season as well.

The Bulldogs again spent most of the campaign in the top 10 of the national poll and also earned the MCHA’s first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They finished the season 24-4-0 overall last season, taking an early lead in the first round of the tournament before falling to third-ranked and eventual national runner-up St. Norbert College.

AC had the top scorer in the country for the third-straight season in Mike Dahlinger (13-41=54) and also had the nation’s highest-scoring offense for the third-straight year at 6.71 goals per game (second was 5.31 gpg).

Marian University received the other two first place votes and finished second with 44 points. The Sabres went 20-7-0 a season ago, winning the MCHA Northern Division with an 18-2-0 league record en route to setting a school record for season victories.

The next four spots were a tight race, as MSOE (14-11-2 in 2009-10) was third with 32 points, Lawrence University (10-16-2 last year) fourth with 30 points, Lake Forest (9-16-2) fifth with 28 points and Finlandia University (5-17-3) sixth with 22 points.

Northland (5-21-1) was up next, coming in seventh with 13 points. Concordia (0-20-5) was eighth with seven points.

The MCHA enters its 13^th season this fall, getting regular season play underway October 22 when Concordia opens the regular season slate, hosting the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

MCHA Preseason Coaches Poll

Adrian = 48 points (6 first-place votes)
Marian = 44 (2 first-place votes)
MSOE = 32
Lawrence = 30
Lake Forest = 28
Finlandia = 22
Northland = 13
Concordia = 7

The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association will be holding tryouts for officials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from September 17-19, 2010. Tryouts will include classroom instruction, on-ice instruction and game situation evaluation.

General Information: The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association is an NCAA Division III West Region Hockey Conference. Member schools include Adrian College (MI), Concordia University (WI), Finlandia University, Lake Forest College (IL), Lawrence University, Marian University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and Northland College. Each season, teams compete for the Harris Cup as well as a National Championship.

Requirements: To be considered for this position, applicants should be at least 22 years of age, have officiating experience commensurate with working upper levels of hockey and be able to work in a team atmosphere. Successful candidates will also have the ability to communicate effectively with officials, coaches, players, and supervisors. Candidates must display sound officiating techniques.

Application: Officials interested in this opportunity should forward their officiating resume, including three references, to Jim Olson, Supervisor of Officials, before August 29, 2010. Invitations to the Tryout Camp will be sent to candidates before September 6, 2010.

Any questions regarding this opportunity should be forwarded to:
Jim Olson
Supervisor of Officials
mcharefs@att.net
(414) 305-5738

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (June 15, 2010)

Fritz joined the Lake Forest College Athletic Department in 1978 as head coach of the hockey and soccer programs. His 351 career victories on the ice rank among the top 50 in NCAA history (all divisions) and he is also the most successful soccer coach in school history with 145 victories and eight conference titles in 16 seasons (1978-93). His 496 wins in the two sports combined are the most by any coach in Lake Forest College history.

Under Fritz' direction, the Forester hockey program joined the American Collegiate Hockey Association in 1985 and claimed the ACHA title in the second and final year of the league's existence. Lake Forest posted an 18-6-2 record in 1990-91 and earned a bid to that year's NCAA Tournament. He led the team into the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association in 1992 and reached the semifinals of the NCHA Peters Cup Playoffs three straight seasons from 2004-06. The team was ranked as high as #4 in the country during that span and finished 2003-04 at #8. Fritz was named NCHA Coach of the Year at the end of that season. The 2009-10 season was the program's first as a member of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association and the Foresters once again advanced to the semifinals of the league's postseason tournament (Harris Cup Four).

Fritz was a 2006 inductee into the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder and was inducted into the Forester Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 for his coaching accomplishments. He is also featured as a visionary in a book on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. Prior to his coaching career, Fritz was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as a player in the Ontario Junior Hockey Association. He was considered to be one of the top five NHL prospects in Canada before an eye injury during the Memorial Cup Playoffs ended his career.

"I am very excited to move on to the next phase of my life," commented Fritz. "I look forward to spending more time with my wife (Pat), children (Curtis and Charlene), and grandchildren (Griffin, Owen, and Lily). I also plan on enjoying Forester hockey from the bleachers instead of behind the bench. I am confident Seamus will do a great job and I will continue to support him and the players in any way I can."

"I want to thank Coach Fritz for all he has done for Lake Forest College," began Slaats. "He has represented the institution extremely well and has had a positive influence on many people, including me, the players he has coached, as well as his colleagues in our department and in the sport of hockey. He will be missed tremendously.

"I also welcome Coach Gregory to our full-time staff and a more prominent role in the department this year. He has done a great deal for the hockey team as an assistant coach and I am confident he will continue to improve the program."

Gregory has served as Fritz's assistant coach as well as the Foresters' head junior varsity coach and recruiting and video coordinator the last two seasons. He spent the previous five years as the associate head coach of the St. Mary’s High School (Lynn, Massachusetts) boys varsity hockey team. St. Mary’s competes in the Division I Catholic Central League, one of the premier leagues in the state.

Gregory graduated from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 2003. Primarily a right wing, he is an alumnus of the St. John’s Junior Hockey League, New Brunswick Junior Hockey League, and Maritime Junior Hockey League.

"I am grateful to the administration here at the College for showing confidence in me and giving me the opportunity to lead this team," commented Gregory. "Working with Tony the last two seasons has been enjoyable, educational, and rewarding. I believe we have the program headed in the right direction and I look forward to leading it along that path."

McCabe takes over the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey program after completing his sixth season as an assistant men’s hockey coach at University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH), which is a NCAA Division I school.

Coach McCabe helped lead the UAH Chargers to two College Hockey America tournament titles (losing a third in the championship game to Bemidji State in 2006), and two NCAA Regional Semifinal appearances, most recently the 2010 Midwest Regional in Fort Wayne, Ind.

At University of Alabama-Huntsville, McCabe worked under Danton Cole, former Michigan State All-American and Stanley Cup winner the New Jersey Devils.

“John brings with him all of the hockey knowledge that he’s acquired under Coach Cole—and his former coaches—to help create at Finlandia the optimal environment to breed success in the college ranks,” says Salani.

Salani explains the number one priority in Finlandia’s search for a men’s hockey coach was to identify the candidate with proven experience and success and a solid understanding of how a college program should be run.

“The hockey environment in the college setting is much different than in the Junior ranks,” Salani notes. “To achieve success and elevate Finlandia hockey to DIII national prominence—which is our goal—it was critical that we find the person who is the right fit for our community and for our program. I believe we’ve found that person in John McCabe.”

Salani is hoping to generate at Finlandia a similar atmosphere of excellence as recently demonstrated by the men’s hockey program at Adrian College, also a member of NCAA Division III and the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA). “I believe in many ways Adrian’s success can be credited to the hiring of a coach who understood and had the experience of the DI college game behind him,” Salani explains.

“In a lot of ways, I expect Coach McCabe to immediately set the Finlandia’s men’s hockey program in the right direction and compete for not only MCHA titles, but national titles,” Salani adds.

In the previous four years, McCabe’s primary responsibility for the UAH hockey program was that of head men’s hockey recruiter. “John’s networks throughout North America and in Scandinavia, combined with his regular work in identifying high profile recruits, will also be a huge asset in establishing a quality and successful product on the ice for Finlandia,” Salani says.

In his own hockey career, McCabe played for UAH from 1995 to 1998 during a period in which the Charger program won two NCAA DII national championships—the second in his senior year as captain of the team. Following, McCabe played seven seasons of minor-professional hockey, most notably four seasons in the East Coast Hockey League with the Mobile Mysticks, the Greensboro Generals, and the Toledo Storm.

Established in 1999, the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey program is a member of NCAA Division III and the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA). The team was coached on an interim basis by Chris Salani in the 2009-10 season, and by former head coaches Joe Burcar (2002-2009) and Scott Mikesch (1999-2001). The Lions won the MCHA Harris Cup in 2007.

McCabe relocates to Hancock with his wife, Carla, seven-month-old daughter Annslee, and step-daughter eight-year-old Lillie.

For additional information about the men’s hockey program at Finlandia University, please contact Chris Salani, athletic director, at 906-487-7378 or chris.salani@finlandia.edu.

Story courtesy of Finlandia University