MEQUON, Wis.--Adrian built a 5-0 lead behind a balanced offense to cruise to a 6-3 victory over host Concordia-Wisconsin on Friday night, clinching a spot in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup playoffs that begin toward the end of this month.

THE BASICS
= Final Score: Adrian College 6, Concordia University Wisconsin 3

= Location: South Rink at the Ozaukee Ice Center; Mequon, Wis.

= Records: Adrian Bulldogs, 14-5-3 overall (12-3-2 NCHA South Division), CUW Falcons, 11-9-2 overall (7-8-2 NCHA South Division) 

= NCAA Division III National Rankings: Adrian is No. 11 (130 points) by U.S. College Hockey Online and No. 12 in the PairWise 

TOP 'DAWGS
= Senior Dino Balsamo was one of four Bulldogs credited with a goal and an assist, surpassing the 100-point mark in his collegiate career.

= Classmates Bryce Van Horn, Matt McNair and sophomore Trevor Coykendall also notched a goal and assist apiece.

= Freshman Alessio Luciani chipped in two assists.

= Freshman Sam Ruffin (9-for-17) and Balsamo (11-for-18) led the way in the face-off dot, while Coykendall won 6 of 10 draws.

= Junior goalie Cameron Gray had 20 saves to win his sixth decision in a row and improve to 11-4-1 on the season. 

THE OPPOSITION
= Alex Way was 7-for-12 on face-offs and recorded an assist.

= Dante Hahn led the team with 10 face-off wins and 22 attempts as well as seven shots on goal.

= Back-up netminder Erik Schuette stopped 14 of 15 shots he faced while playing the final 31 minutes and 2 seconds.  

HOW IT HAPPENED
= Adrian built a commanding 5-0 lead--including going up by two goals after 20 minutes--and never looked back. 

= The Bulldogs raced to a 2-0 advantage thanks to goals by freshman Nick Lund and McNair just 2:50 apart, beginning with Lund's second tally of the season 138 seconds after the opening face-off.

= Adrian started the second period on fire with three goals in a span of 4:37. At the 4:21 mark, Coykendall took a feed from freshman defenseman Terry Ryder to make it 3-0. Then 1:28 later, Van Horn connected on his fifth goal with assists coming from Ruffin and freshman Zachary Heintz. Heintz wrapped up AC's scoring in the stanza with a power play marker from senior defenseman Joey Colatarci and Van Horn at 8:58.

= The Falcons ended the period with a pair of goals on special teams to close within 5-2. At 10:05, Cole Pickup scored shorthanded on assists from Alex Way and Thomas Dyball. Then 5:16 later, Brandon Picard found the back of the net on the power play with assists from Josh Adkins and Luc Kreuser.

= The teams traded goals in the third period. Balsamo scored his team-leading 14th of the season--setting a career high--at 10:51 on assists by Luciani and McNair. Nick Guiney scored with 14 seconds left in the game for CUW to wrap up the scoring.

= Adrian dominated shots on goal to the tune of 43-23, including 16-6 in the first period when going up by two goals and 17-9 in the second when scoring three more.

= Adrian was 1-for-3 on power plays; CUW: 1-for-4.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= The Bulldogs extend their dominance over the Falcons with a 41-0 all-time series lead. Adrian is 19-0 lifetime on CUW's home-ice.

= By virtue of Lake Forest's 1-1 overtime tie with Aurora at home tonight, the Bulldogs climb to within one point of the first-place Foresters for the No. 1 overall seed in the conference tournament, 27 to 26 points. There are three games remaining for both Adrian and Lake Forest.

= Balsamo has 43+58=101 scoring totals in 103 games played, with two goals and one assist for three points in nine games coming at Division I Bentley University before he joined the Bulldog program for the second half of the 2016-17 campaign.

= Adrian improves to 12-0-2 this season when leading after two periods and 10-4-2 when scoring the first goal.

= The Bulldogs have won a season's best six-straight outings.

= Adrian leads NCAA Division III with 104 total goals.   

UP NEXT
= These same two teams meet again here tomorrow afternoon starting at 5 p.m. Eastern.

#TheBrotherhood #AdrianBulldogs #GoDawgs #BulldogProud #TraditionNeverDies