Feb. 16, 2008

Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The record-setting regular season for the #9 Adrian College Bulldogs came to a close in proper fashion with a 20-2 win over the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs continued to re-write the MCHA record books while pushing their winning streak to 16 straight victories.

Just as was the case on Friday night, Eric Miller opened up the scoring for the Bulldogs less than a minute into Saturday's contest to put the pressure on the Falcons. A minute and four seconds later, Chris Stansik gave the home team the 2-0 lead on his first goal of the night. Just over six minutes into the game, Brad Houston netted the game winner for the Bulldogs. A Shawn Skelly one-timer from outside of the right face-off circle on a power-play at 9:05 pushed the lead to four for the Bulldogs. Less than three minutes later, Reed Renaud made a move to split the Falcon defense and send a wrist shot past the goalie for the 5-0 lead. Houston would add his second goal of the game with less than two minutes in the period on a one-timer from Samuel Kuzyk to put the Bulldogs up 6-0 headed into the first intermission.

The goals continued to pour out of the flood gate in the second period as the Bulldogs lit up the scoreboard eight times, tying a school record for goals in a period. Samuel Kuzyk picked up his second-straight hat trick by scoring three second-period goals (5:19, 6:10, 10:57). Eric Miller also completed his hat trick in the second frame of the game, finding the back of the net at 8:23 and 13:30. Stansik (2:55), Drew Satterley (6:25), and Eric Bailen (19:47) scored the other Bulldog goals of the period, putting the home team up 14-0 for the second break.

Houston wasted little time completing his hat trick in the third period, striking 1:27 into the final period. Joel Workman, Kyle Watson, Adam Krug, and Mike Fiorillo all notched goals before the Falcons were able to find the scoreboard late in the game. Eric Miller got his MCHA record-breaking 28th league goal with 1:33 left in the game to complete the four-goal Texas hat trick and round out the Bulldog scoring. A Falcon goal with 9.3 seconds left in the game made the contest 20-2 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Bryan Scott made 14 saves while picking up his fifth win in goal of the season.

The Bulldogs finish their regular season play with a 22-3-0 overall record, which is the best regular-season finish among any first-year program. The Bulldogs' 22 victories will be the most among any NCAA Division III program with the conclusion of the regular season. Plattsburgh, the next closest team in wins, finished their regular season with 21 wins. Currently, only two other teams in all of NCAA hockey have more wins than the Bulldogs (Division I Michigan and Miami both have 25 wins).

Adrian will now look to the post-season to continue their remarkable run in their inaugural season. The Bulldogs will host the first round of the MCHA tournament next Friday and Saturday, February 22 and 23 as the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons return to Adrian in a match-up of the #1 and #8 seeded teams. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 p.m. on Friday for the first-round contest.

Notes: Quinn Waller and Adam Krug both tied the old MCHA record for assists in a single game with 5... Waller established a new mark for assists in a game by a defenseman in the league... he has also set a new mark for points in a season by a defenseman with 36 (5 G, 31 A) in MCHA play... Eric Miller now holds the MCHA record for goals in a season with 28, improving upon the old record of 27 set in 1998-99... as a team, the Bulldogs established a new MCHA record for goals in conference play in a season with 168 (previously 156 by Marian, 1998-99)... the team has also set a new record for power-play percentage in league games by going 48-for-142 or 33.8% on the season (previously set at 30.1% by Marian on 28-of-93 chances, 1999-2000)... the Bulldogs set new school records for points (56), goals (20), and assists (36) in a single game... the team also tied a school record for goals in a period with 8 in the second period (second period against Northland on Jan. 25)... Brad Houston, Sam Kuzyk, and Adam Krug all set school records for points in a game with 6... Saturday was the first time in school history that three Bulldogs had hat tricks (Miller, Houston, and Kuzyk)... the back-to-back Texas hat tricks (4 goals in one game) by Kuzyk and Miller on Friday and Saturday night was also a first for the program... Saturday was the second-straight game that 17 Bulldogs registered at least one point and third occasion of the season