ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Adrian College Men's ACHA Division 1 hockey team captured the inaugural GL6 Playoff Championship in an overtime clash against Calvin University last night at the Arrington Ice Arena, thanks to Justin Jamer's heroics midway through the first sudden death frame.

The No. 1 Seed Bulldogs were the hosts of the first-ever GL6 Hockey Conference Playoff Tournament and matched up against the No. 2 Seed Calvin Knights after both teams defeated their opponents in the semifinal round the night before. Friday night's contest at the AIA was the third battle between the two teams in 2024-25, with Adrian coming out victorious in the previous two match-ups. After clinching the regular season championship with a perfect conference record of 10-0-0, the next step for the Bulldogs was to reel in that first GL6 Playoff title.

Friday night's contest got off to a hot start as the Bulldogs and Knights traded goals early in the game. Keegan DeCaluwe opened the scoring for the home team on an early power play opportunity, banging home a rebound in front to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead. Just a few minutes later, the Knights capitalized on a turnover and went the other way, scoring on an odd-man rush to tie the game. Less than a minute after that, Dylan Gajewski scored another greasy tally in front of the Calvin goal, giving the home team the upper hand, but in the dying seconds of the opening period, the Knights converted on a power play goal, burying one in the midst of a scrum in front of Noah Decottignies with 0.5 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 2-2.

Second period action was a little less chaotic as both teams stood tall in their respective defensive zones. Only one tally managed to cross the line in the middle stanza, as Adrian's Nash Hatcher wired a slapshot past the Calvin goalie to give the Bulldogs the one-goal margin over Calvin entering period three.

As the third frame carried on, the Bulldogs and Knights continued to hold things close. As play entered the final ten minutes, a sense of urgency and intensity continued to flourish as the Bulldogs fought to hold off the Knights, while the Knights pushed hard to find an equalizer. With under seven minutes left on the clock, the Knights did just that as they capitalized on another turnover in the neutral zone, transitioning the other way for a second odd-man rush tally to tie the game and force sudden death overtime. 

With it being a playoff championship game, the format called for unlimited overtime periods, being played at 5-on-5 for twenty minutes. The Bulldogs came out flying in the overtime period, hounding the Knights in their own zone and holding them to nothing offensively. The Bulldogs continued to press, creating tons of chances to score but unable to find the back of the net in the first half of the period. But, with approximately seven minutes remaining in the period, Adrian rushed up the ice as David Dell made a a breakout pass to Jamer who sent it over to Sebastian Smith. The Captain entered the zone and dished it back to Jamer flying down the right wing. As Jamer went wide, he threw a wrister on net that squeaked by the Knights' goaltender and into the net for the championship winning goal, sending the Bulldogs and the home crowd into a frenzy. Decottignies, who made made 32 saves in the championship win, rushed up the ice to join in on the celebration scrum as his teammates were there waiting for him.

Adrian grabbed the 4-3 victory, on home ice, to earn the Mike Petrusma Cup and the 2025 GL6 Playoff Championship crown; the ninth playoff championship victory for the MD1 hockey program. The Bulldogs previously hosted the conference tournament once before, back in 2019 when they defeated Davenport in the GLCHL Championship game at the AIA.

Gajewski (2G, 2A) and Decottignies (2W, 1SO) earned All-Tournament honors, while Jamer (GWG) collected the Most Valuable Player award.

The MD1 Bulldogs will now take two weeks to prepare for the ACHA National Championship Tournament, beginning on March 15 in St. Louis, Missouri. A full tournament preview will be released the week of the tournament.

Noah Decottignies met for an interview post-game to chat about the playoff victory and what it's meant to be a Bulldogs over the last four years.