Feb. 19, 2010

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The atmosphere on Friday night was not like a typical game at Arrington Ice Arena and the Bulldogs knew they would need a home-ice advantage against a pesky Milwaukee School of Engineering team. These two teams have become rivals since Adrian joined the MCHA in 2007-08. The Bulldogs picked up their 13th straight victory over the Raiders as they posted a 6-4 win behind physical play and a comeback attitude.

Adrian is not typically playing from behind but that is what they were faced with in this one. MSOE scored 1:14 into the game as Ben Plocar took a shot from the blue line straight on which beat Brad Fogal under his pads. Plocar's power play goal was assisted by Nathan Brunk and Todd Krupa. The Bulldogs would even things up at 1-1 on the power play at 8:05 as Mike Dahlinger scored the first of his three goals for his 10th of the season. Dahlinger got a rebound after Sam Kuzyk charged the net and found the left corner of the net with assists from Kuzyk and Chris Stansik.

Jordan Keizer gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead at 10:24 of the first period at even strength for his seventh goal of the season. He also scored off a rebound in front as Jeff Schmudlach and Bradley Tierney were given assists on the play. Adrian once again tied the score at 15:15 of the first as Stansik's power play goal was assisted by Eric Miller and Shawn Skelly. Adrian went 2-for-3 on the power play in the first stanza.

The Raiders struck quick in the second just 27 seconds into the period as Sean McGaughy slid the puck under Fogal's pads from the right wing for his seventh goal of the year. Michael Johnson and Carl Lindblad were given assists on MSOE's third goal. MSOE went 2-for-4 on the power play to that point. Kuzyk scored his 20th goal of the season just 1:16 later as he fired the puck past Connor Toomey between the circles at even strength with Dahlinger and Brad Houston getting assists. Dahlinger's assist set a new single-season assist record in the MCHA with his 36th helper of the season.

Skelly gave Adrian a 4-3 lead at 7:54 of the second on a nice feed from Miller. The junior tandem connected as Miller fed Skelly for a one-timer in front as Skelly was coming left to right across the crease. Skelly's 19th goal of the season was also assisted by Zach Graham.

The third period belonged to Dahlinger and Fogal as they both did their job on offense and defense. Dahlinger notched his 11th goal of the year at 10:05 on the power play from Stansik and Fogal. He charged the net and beat Toomey to give AC a 5-3 lead. The game got physical at the 8:15 mark as Eric Roman and Drew Satterley each was sent to the penalty box. Roman got a two-minute minor for roughing while Satterley received a five-minute major for fighting and a 10-minute game disqualification. What all this meant was that the Bulldogs were down 5-on-3 for two minutes and needed to kill off a five-minute power play. The Raiders fired away at Fogal and he turned away each shot. The Bulldogs killed off the last seven penalties as MSOE went 2-for-11 on the night with 14 shots.

Dahlinger put an exclamation point on his big night with his third goal at 18:16 to finish with four points and his first career hat trick. He now has 51 points to lead the team this season. Keizer scored his second of the game just eight seconds later to cut the lead to 6-4. MSOE pulled Toomey for the final 38 seconds but could not get any closer.

Adrian clinched their third straight outright MCHA regular season title in three years of existence with 38 points based on a 19-0 record. The Bulldogs will wrap up the regular season tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. against MSOE and then look forward to hosting the Harris Cup Four on March 5-6 as the number one seed in the tournament. The Raiders are third in the conference standings and will play next week in a first-round playoff series. Stansik had three points for the game with a goal and two assists. He now has 82 career points in MCHA action and is tied for the all-time record by a defenseman with Ryan Moren who played at MSOE from 1998-2002.