ANGOLA, Ind.— Nationally-ranked Adrian is once again top 'Dogs in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association after bolting past host Trine, 8-1, to capture its 11th conference championship and first Peters Cup since 2018, tying a school record for shorthanded goals in a game.

THE BASICS
= Final Score: Adrian College 8, Trine University 1

= Location: Thunder Ice Arena; Angola, Ind.

= Records: Adrian Bulldogs, 17-5-3 overall (15-3-2 NCHA South Division), Trine Thunder, 12-10-3 overall (10-7-3 NCHA South Division) 

= NCAA Division III National Rankings: Adrian is No. 8 (149 points) by U.S. College Hockey Online and No. 9 in the PairWise 

TOP 'DAWGS
= Senior Dino Balsamo led Adrian with a pair of goals and was 11-for-22 in the face-off circle.

= Freshman Alessio Luciani led all skaters with three points—all assists. He also was 13-for-21 in the face-off dot.

= Junior starting goalie Cameron Gray (14-4-1) made 26 saves in 40 minutes of action to pick up the win and freshman Nic Tallarico stopped all 11 shots he faced during the third period.

= Senior Bryce Van Horn (1g, 1a), sophomore defenseman Matt Eller (2a) and classmate Grant Baetsen (1g, 1a) chipped in two points each.

= Sophomore Sam Ruffin, who had a goal, led Adrian's dominance in the face-off circle with 17 wins in 26 draws. 

= Classmate Trevor Coykendall also scored a goal and won eight of 16 draws.

THE OPPOSITION
= Brendan Prappas led all skaters with nine shots on goal and tallied the Thunder's lone goal.

= Aaron Brickman made 40 stops in 57:06 of action.

= Garrett Hallford led Trine with 11 face-off wins and 27 draw attempts.

HOW IT HAPPENED
= Adrian jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and never looked back. Baetsen and Coykendall scored goals 56 seconds apart beginning with Baetsen's second on the season after 1 minute and 58 seconds elapsed in the game. Van Horn scored the first of the Bulldogs' three shorthanded tallies at the 10:11 mark.

= The Bulldogs outshot the Thunder 49 to 38 for the contest, including 21-11 in the second when they had three of the four goals in the period. 

= Adrian blew the game open with three more goals--two while shorthanded--in the second period. Balsamo netted tallies at 3:54 and then again 2:05 later. With 1:55 left, Ruffin potted another "shorty" on assists from Van Horn and Eller. The visitors led 6-1 after 40 minutes.

= Before that at the 11:38 mark, Prappas spoiled any AC shutout bid with Carmine Taffo and Blake Robertson credited with the assists.

= In the third period, freshman blueliner Terry Ryder scored his first career goal at 6:53 and senior Matt McNair wrapped up the scoring for the Bulldogs at 16:41.

= Adrian won 50 of 86 face-offs. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= The Bulldogs are 8-0 lifetime against the Thunder and 4-0 in Angola.

= During its nine-game win streak overall, Adrian has outscored the opposition 53 to 18. 

= Adrian tied a school record with three shorthanded goals, last accomplished against Northland College on Nov. 4, 2011, and established versus Concordia Wisconsin on Feb. 23, 2008. The NCAA Division III benchmark is five.

= Adrian also has won five-straight NCHA-South crowns since the conference adopted divisional play for the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

= Balsamo and Ruffin are now tied for the Adrian scoring lead with 34 points apiece. Balsamo has a career-high 17 goals to pace the NCHA, and Ruffin tops the Bulldogs with 25 assists.

= By virtue of Lake Forest's 3-2 road loss to Concordia-Wisconsin, Adrian is in sole possession of first place in the NCHA overall standings by two points (32-30). The Bulldogs had trailed the Foresters by six points about three weeks ago before they came storming back to enter the conference playoffs as the No. 1 seed.  

= Adrian ranks second in the nation in shorthanded goals with nine on the season; UMass-Dartmouth has 12.

UP NEXT
= Adrian will have home-ice advantage while alive during its duration in the NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs, hosting No. 4 South seed Aurora for a two-game quarterfinal series next weekend. On Friday, the teams square off in Arrington Ice Arena at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the schools will play Game 2 at 3 p.m., followed by an "if necessary" mini-game.

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