ADRIAN, Mich. - Every year, the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) presents the Kronschnabel Trophy to its regular-season champion, and this weekend, the Adrian women's hockey team will have the opportunity to capture its seventh such hardware.
The Bulldogs (14-6-1, 11-1-0 NCHA) find themselves in this familiar position thanks to an enormous effort during last weekend's five-game stretch, during which they won the last four games by a combined score of 15-2.
Standing in the black and gold's way this weekend is the Spartans of Aurora University.
Led by five-time NCHA Defensive Player of the Week, Chiara Pfosi, and three different offensive honorees, the Illinois-based program continues to assert itself as one of the conference's top contenders since joining the ranks in 2017.
However, despite the latest attention, the Spartans still have yet to defeat their next opponent in Adrian, having scored two or more goals in game against the Bulldogs only twice in 13 meetings.
Aurora's offense this season may have something to say about that. Coming into this weekend, five different skaters for the Spartans rank inside the NCHA's top ten in total scoring, including Peyton Elliot and sisters Olivia and Darci Matson. The trio make-up the top three scorers in the league, led by Darci's 30 points on 17 goals and 13 assists. Olivia has compiled 24 points behind a conference-high 20 assists, while Elliot sits between the siblings with 26 points on 18 goals and 8 assists.
All told, the Spartans have 89 total goals to their name this campaign, the seventh-most in Division III, and only five goals more than the Bulldogs, who feature a balanced attack led by
Karmen Anderson (nine goals and 10 assists) and
Une Bjelland (11 goals and eight assists).
The duo combined to provide all three of Adrian's goals in a 3-2 victory over Lake Forest earlier this week, and at least one of them has contributed points in every game for the locals since January 7.
Brooke Schembri and
Jessica VonRuden have also been a spark to the Bulldog offense, tallying 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Even with all the fire power expected to be showcased on the ice, the real story of this series may come from between the pipes.
If you dissect the NCHA's goaltending statistics, you will find Adrian's
Denisa Jandova and
Sophie Goldberg, and Aurora's Chiara Pfosi near, if not at the top of just about every statistical category.
The latter of the three has compiled 15 wins in net for the Spartans, six more than any other conference netminder. Then, there's Jandova, who actively leads the NCHA in goals-against average (0.75), save percentage (0.953) and win percentage (0.875). Pfosi ranks second with a 0.833 win percentage, and sits at third in the other two categories.
Goldberg currently ranks second in the league with a 1.31 goals-against average, while sporting a third-highest win percentage at 0.722.
Last season, Adrian and Aurora met seven times during the pandemic-plagued season, with the 'Dogs winning six of those match-ups and the other resulting in a 3-3 tie that the black and gold would eventually win in a shootout.
A clean sweep from the Bulldogs this weekend, and the regular-season crown is theirs!
The action begins on Saturday evening at 7 p.m., followed by a Sunday afternoon bout at 2 p.m.
Both games will include live stat and video feed from Arrington Ice Arena.
