ADRIAN, Mich. - There was a lot of hype heading into this weekend's key MCHA series between Adrian and MSOE. Round one went to the Bulldogs, 6-1, on Friday night (Jan. 14) as Adrian forged a tie with the Raiders atop the conference standings with identical 8-1 records (16 points). It wasn't just that Adrian won, but it was how they did it by playing aggressive hockey and never letting MSOE get into the flow of the game.
Freshman Josh Cousineau got the Bulldogs an early lead at 1:29 of the first period as he re-directed a shot from Bobby Hineman at the left point for his third goal of the season. It was the third straight game that Cousineau has scored a goal and it came on his only shot on goal for the game. Hineman and Mike Dahlinger both had an assist on the even strength tally.
The Bulldogs were busy in the second period and really put the game out of reach through 40 minutes. Adrian built a 4-0 advantage thanks to goals by sophomore Andrew Dovey, senior Eric Miller and senior Shawn Skelly. Dovey made a nice deke to his backhand on a direct feed from Kyle Watson and scored from the close left wing at 9:52 to give AC a 2-0 lead. Dahlinger got his second assist of the night as well on Dovey's third goal of the season.
Miller used his stick-handling skills to perfection on Adrian's third goal of the game at 14:38 for his sixth of the season and the 76th goal of his career. He took the puck and slid a backhand in the crease under goaltender Connor Toomey with assists from Skelly and Zach Graham. After three even strength goals, the Bulldogs scored on a 4-on-3 power play at 17:40 as Skelly notched his 10th of the season and his 44th career power play goal. He currently ranks seventh in Division III history in power play goals. His patented slapshot from the left wing gave Adrian the 4-0 lead with assists to Quinn Waller and Miller.
Jordan Keizer got MSOE on the board as Adrian allowed their third short-handed goal of the season after Mike Pao took a five-minute major for checking from behind at the 19:12 mark of the second period. Keizer's unassisted breakaway goal was his 15th of the year.
Joel Workman put Adrian ahead 5-1 at 8:49 of the third for his fifth tally of the season and the 36th of his career. Workman took a pass in the slot from Brad Houston and deposited it in the back of the net. Jordan Watts also had an assist on Workman's goal. Houston helped himself to the scoring barrage just 16 seconds later for his 10th goal of the season and 68th of his career on the power play. Houston deflected a shot by Waller off a faceoff with another assist going to Dahlinger for his third helper of the night.
Dahlinger's three assists give him eight for the season and 93 in his career as he was named the first star of the game. Skelly was the second star with a goal and assist and Houston was the third star with his two points in the third period. Adrian improves to 15-0 all-time against MSOE including a 9-0 record at Arrington Ice Arena. Tonight's game was the first time that two MCHA teams ranked in the top 10 played each other. Adrian is currently eighth and MSOE is ninth in the latest USCHO.com Division III poll.
MSOE entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring defense allowing just 1.77 goals per game. Six goals given up was a season-high for the Raiders and Toomey allowed six goals before being lifted in the third period for Spenser Brown. It was Brown's first action of the season and he stopped three shots in the final 9:05. Toomey made 16 saves in the loss. Brad Fogal stopped 26 shots for the Bulldogs who were outshot 27-25.
The Adrian power play came into the game ranked third in Division III and went 2-of-4 on four shots. They now have 25 power play goals this season. MSOE entered the game as the top penalty killing unit in the nation having allowed just four goals in 64 opportunities (93.8%). MSOE failed to score in eight power plays and took 10 shots with the advantage. The same two teams will battle for the outright lead in the MCHA tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to conclude the weekend series.
