ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Adrian College NCAA men's hockey team opens up the Harris Cup Playoffs at home starting this weekend against Lake Forest College. The nationally ranked No. 1 Bulldogs won the Peters Cup last weekend after a sweep over No. 5 St. Norbert. Adrian holds the top seed in the Harris Cup Playoffs while Lake Forest squeaked in to grab the No. 8 seed.
Adrian is riding a 24-game winning streak with the help of a perfect 18-0 record in regular season conference play. The team's 24-1 record is the best regular season record in program history. In conference play this season, the Bulldogs are outscoring opponents 124-35 and average 6.89 goals per game while allowing 1.94 per game. Earlier in the year, Lake Forest came to town to face Adrian in a two-game series where the black and gold came away with a sweep with scores of 7-4 and 8-3.
Matt Couto had a five-point weekend with five assists while
Alessio Luciani recorded three goals and an assists to go with
Sam Ruffin's goal and three assists.
Cameron Gray picked up two wins during the weekend with 41 total saves.
Gray is the only goaltender in Division III with a perfect record on the year to rank No. 1 in winning percentage. Gray is 16-0 on the year and has allowed only 2.33 goals per game with a save percentage of .912 with a shutout.
Luciani continues to lead the Bulldogs in points with 39 to go with 13 goals and 26 assists and a +/- of +37.
Ty Enns has led the team in scoring with 17 goals to go with 20 assists followed by 16 goals and 15 assists from
Rex Moe. Ruffin has added 33 points this season on 12 goals with 21 assists.
Lake Forest this season has a record of 7-16-2 and finished 5-11-2 in conference play. The Foresters are currently on a three-game losing streak after splitting with Trine and being swept by Marian who went on to grab the seventh seed. Josh Giacomin leads the Foresters with 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists. As a team, Lake Forest has scored only 76 goals this season in 25 games with 58 coming against conference opponents. Nick Wiencek holds a 6-9-1 record in goal while splitting time with Carson Poulin who has a 1-7-1 record in the net.
To round out the rest of the NCHA seeding, St. Norbert holds the second seed and hosts No. 7 Marian while Aurora grabbed the third seed to host No. 6 MSOE, and Trine picked up the fourth seed to host No. 5 Lawrence.
The first round of the NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs will consists of a best of two-game series with a possible mini game to follow game two in the event of a 1-1 series tie. Game one of the opening playoff series will begin at the Arrington Ice Arena on Friday, February 18 at 7:05 PM followed by game two on Saturday at 4:05 PM. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Adrian College Hockey Office by calling (517) 265-5161 ext. 5011, or spectators can purchase tickets at the door for $10 for a reserved seat, or $5 for general admission.
