NEWARK, Del. – The American Collegiate Hockey Association’s 20th Division One National Tournament commenced this morning in Newark, Delaware with a full slate of eight games among the 16 participants. The University of Delaware is hosting the event at their two ice arenas located on the Blue Hens’ campus. The winning teams move on to Sunday’s quarter finals while losing squads play in a consolation round. Opening day games drew a number of nice crowds culminating with a jammed pack Fred Rust Arena, when the host Delaware Blue Hens, ranked number five in ACHA D-1, skated against Robert Morris of Illinois. The ACHA and its member teams fulfill a unique role for collegiate level men and women hockey players who want to continue to play ice hockey, but who do not play varsity level sports or who go to schools without varsity level programs. The ACHA and its 464 men and women teams provide non varsity men and women college students the chance to continue to play competitive hockey at the collegiate level. The ACHA is made up of over 10,000 players. The tourney will culminate with the National Championship game at 7 p.m. on March 9, 2011. Pre tournament team rankings are shown along with a game synopsis on today’s matchups. PHN is on site to provide coverage of the entire tournament. # 3 Ohio University-3 vs. # 14 Canton-0 (Fred Rust Arena) The University of Ohio Bobcats scored a goal in each period outshooting the State University of New York-Camden Kangaroos 51-19 in route to a win in the first game of the day. Three different players scored for the Bobcats as goalie Blake MacNicol shutout the Kangaroos. Jonathan Pietramala got the first goal of the tournament at 11:51 of the period from the bottom of the far side circle off to the right of the goaltender. His wrist shot beat Canton goal tender Jimmy Merrill up high on his glove side. Overall Merrill was bombarded with made 48 saves in the game while taking the loss. Canton kept the game close until the Bobcats cashed in on a power play early into period two. A turn over found the stick of forward Jake Holzemer who was at the side of the net and he went high on Merrill for the score. Junior Michael Schultz got the lone assist. Nick Rostek with assists from Tyler Plimore and Steve OSacky closed out the scoring at 7:13 of period three as the Bobcats controlled the balance of the game to move on to tomorrow’s quarterfinal game against Oakland University. #6 Minot State-2 vs. #11 Oakland University ( Michigan)-3 O/T (Gold Arena) Oakland University had two goals and an assist from former Central States Hockey League alumni Jordan McDonald to capture their opening round game against the favored Minot State University Beavers 3-2 in overtime. McDonald’s second goal came just 44 seconds into the extra period, off a setup by Jacob DeSano who ended up with two assists in the game. The other Oakland University goal came from Adam Novak. The Beavers had two goals from Kale Dolinski out of Regina, Saskatchewan in the losing effort. The game was scoreless after period one and until 12:29 of period two when Dolinski picked up his first of the game. Oakland came back to tie the game at 14:18 of the third period on McDonald’s first strike. Novak’s blast at the five minute mark put Oakland ahead 2-1, but Dolinski sent the game into overtime tied 2-2 with his second marker with just over a minute left in regulation time. The tie ended quickly at 19:16 into the extra period with McDonalds’ overtime heroics. Goaltender Wyatt Waselenchuck out of Port Moody, British Columbia stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced in net for the Beavers, while winning goaltender Alex Pikunas, another CSHL alumni, turned aside 31 of 33 Minot State shots in goal. Oakland draws Ohio University in the quarterfinals. #2 Davenport-12 vs. #15 Rutgers-1 (Fred Rust Arena) The Davenport University Panthers team moved up to D-1 of the ACHA this year after winning three straight D-2 Championships prior to their promotion. They brought their winning ways to this tournament at least for today with a dominating performance over Rutgers University. The Panthers beat the Scarlet Knights 12-1, in a game that demonstrated the Panthers offensive firepower. Rutgers was making their first tournament appearance. Davenport freshman forward Adam Kuhn out of Southgate, Michigan who played his junior hockey in the North American Hockey League scored four goals and added two assists for a big six point afternoon. Teammate Jonathan Juliano, a senior, registered six assists, while another senior Matt Morang, chipped in four points, including two goals. Jason Adams out of Jefferson, New Jersey had the lone score for Rutgers. Richmond Hill , Ontario native Joseph D’Elia stopped 21 0f 22 shots on net for the win while Rutgers’ net minder Brandon DeLibero faced 50 shots in absorbing the loss. Davenport and Rhode Island meet in the quarterfinals tomorrow. #7 Rhode Island-2 vs. #10 Penn State 1 (Gold Arena) Coach Joe Augustine’s Rhode Island Rams behind goaltender Paul Kenney, a Philadelphia area resident, shut out the Penn State Nittany Lions in the afternoon’s most competitive game. Kenney who swept aside 29 shots made a single goal scored by sophomore Shawn Tingley stand up as the game winner. Senior forward Peter Ducharme had an assist on the game winning strike. Tingley had 20 goals on the season coming into the tournament. Another sophomore Alan Dionne, added an empty net insurance goal with under a minute to play to seal the win. The empty netter was set up by Kyle Krannich. Penn State ’s goalie Matthew Madrazo was also outstanding, although in defeat, stopping 31 of 32 shots on goal. His play gave his team a chance to upset the Rams who came into Newark as one of the pre tournament favorites. The Rams will test themselves against the number two team in the ACHA D-1 tomorrow, as they play Davenport in their quarterfinal final game. #1 Lindenwood University-12 vs. #16 Slippery Rock-1 (Fred Rust Arena) Lindenwood University, from St Charles Missouri, another pre tournament favorite, with the number one rating in the ACHA D-1, rolled into the quarter finals with sixty minutes of offense oriented hockey to push Slippery Rock University into the consolation round. The Lions had goals from ten different scorers in their 12-1 rout of the Pride. Forward Steve Balint of Gross Isle, Michigan, led Lindenwood with five assists and Eric Combs and Alex Roth each had multiple goal games with two goals each. Combs who played in the Eastern Junior Hockey League is a freshman, while Roth is in his second year in college. Goaltender Robi Cavallar of Coquitlam, British Columbia, faced just 14 shots in recording the win in net, while his opponent, Shawn Kettner was hammered with 44 shots. Junior Joshua Herbert scored Slippery Rock’s only tally. Lindenwood should get a real test tomorrow in the quarter finals as they skate against the Sooners from Oklahoma. #8 Arizona State University-1 vs. #9 University of Oklahoma-2 (Gold Arena) The closeness of their national rankings was predictive of a competitive hockey match and the fans that crowded into the Gold Arena were treated to a slam bang affair. The Oklahoma Sooners scored the game winner from forward Chris Nicolaou out of Dallas Texas. His score broke a 1-1 tie with less than two and one half minutes left in regulation time and eliminated the Sun Devils from the Championship round 2-1. The teams from the west waged an exciting defensive struggle that still produced plenty of scoring opportunities. They played an exciting but scoreless first period, traded scores in the middle stanza and fought hard until the Nicolaou goal and the final horn ended ASU’s chances to advance. Alex Jacobs had the only assist on the game winner. The Sooners’ other goal came off the stick of Blake Martin of Anchorage, Alaska. His second period goal with just over a minute left in the period forged a 1-1 tie. The Sun Devils took the lead early in the period when Danny McAuliffe out of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League with the Walpole Express, hammered a shot past Oklahoma goalie Matt Pombo. He faced 37 shots on the night in picking up the win. Marc Schacker was in goal for ASU. Oklahoma doesn’t have time to savor the win as they draw top ranked Lindenwood in the next round. #5 Delaware-3 vs. Robert Morris IL-1 (Fred Rust Arena) A big, noisy, supportive mostly home crowd, estimated at 1,800 flooded into Fred Rust Arena to watch the Blue Hens battle the Eagles out of Chicago, Illinois. The game proved to be among the best on Fred Rust Arena ice today as the Blue Hens outlasted Robert Morris of Illinois in a tight exciting game. Delaware’s last goal came on an empty netter after the Eagles pulled their goal tender in the final seconds of the game in an attempt to even the score. Robert Morris jumped out to a 1-0 lead in period two on a power play and a nice series of passes between Chris Cimoch, Adam Keasey and the goal scorer Nick Fina. Delaware continued to pressure the Eagles goal tender Dan Venet, but he stopped a heavy flurry of shots in the second period, until finally with 2:08 left in the period, the Blue Hens banged home the tying score. Dave Lombardi got credit for the goal and Nickolas LePore was credited with the only assist. The teams left the ice tied 1-1 at the second intermission. The third period was full of chances at both ends of the ice, as the fans roared on each play and on each call or no call. The home crowd erupted at 4:23 when Michael Piet used a short close in wrist shot to the right of goaltender to beat him along the ice between the pads. An empty netter with 29 seconds remaining, by Christian Tasker iced the game and moved Delaware into the next round. S.J. Broadt claimed the win in net for Delaware with 26 saves, while Dan Venet of Robert Morris allowed two goals on 40 shots. The Blue Hens will play Adrian in the next round. #4 Adrian University-7 vs. #13 Stony Brook-2 (Gold Arena) The last spot in the quarterfinals was claimed by the Adrian (MI) College Bulldogs who out skated Stony Brook University 7-2. Adrian will faceoff tomorrow against Delaware in what looks to be a very competitive contest between two evenly matched squads. Jared Semple led the Bulldogs with two goals, while five other players contributed single tallies. Adrian held only a one goal lead early into the third period for a 4-3 lead but exploded with four straight unanswered goals to pull away. Tom Ciaverilla picked up three assists in strong supporting role for the Bulldogs. Brian Elfant and Wes Hawkins scored for Stony Brook. Freshman Matt Anderson handled the goalkeeping chores for Adrian while Josh Brand took the loss in net for Stony Brook. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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