March 1, 2009

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Bulldog men's hockey team made easy work of MSOE on Sunday afternoon, 7-1, and in the process hoisted the Harris Cup as the MCHA postseason tournament winner for the second year in a row. Adrian (27-1-1) entered the tournament a heavy favorite and did not disappoint in front of the home fans at Arrington Ice Arena.

The first eight minutes were played evenly as both teams did not take too many chances and were feeling each other out on the big stage. Adrian broke into the scoring column at the 12:00 mark of the first period as Adam Krug scored his 22nd goal of the season with assists from Quinn Waller and Eric Miller. That goal really seemed to open the floodgates for the Bulldogs who scored three more goals over the next 4:28 to end the period up 4-0.

Brad Houston's 16th goal of the season at 13:09 on a nice pass from Joel Workman made it 2-0. Mike Dahlinger was left alone in front of the net and buried a wrist shot in the top left corner of the net at 14:33 at even strength to make it 3-0. Dahlinger's 15th goal was assisted by Mike Leone and Reed Renaud. Waller added a power play goal on a 5-on-3 situation at 17:28 for his third goal of the year with assists from Miller and Krug.

Adrian made it 5-0 at the 10:37 mark of the second period as Houston went top shelf for his second goal of the game with an assist from Kyle Watson. MSOE cut the lead to 5-1 as Matt Leitzan scored his first goal of the season off a rebound at 11:33. Adrian added two more in the final period as Waller had his first multi-goal game of the year with another power play tally at 1:20 with an assist from Shawn Skelly. Sam Kuzyk ended the scoring at 5:57 of the third for his 11th goal of the year with assists from Dahlinger and Leone.

Adrian had five recipients on the MCHA All-Tournament Team including Krug, Waller, Houston, Miller and Brad Fogal. Miller was named the tournament MVP for his fine efforts. Fogal made 22 saves as MSOE actually outshot Adrian, 28-25. MSOE was 0-of-5 on the power play while Adrian was 2-of-5. The MCHA conference does not have an automatic bid into the Division III Tournament, so Adrian will have to wait until next Sunday, March 8 to learn if they earned an at-large bid in the tournament.