NEWARK, Del – Day two of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s 20th Division One National Tournament saw four teams advance to Tuesday’s semi–final games as Ohio University, Davenport University, Lindenwood University and the University of Delaware move on to the final four after today’s action. Delaware is hosting the event at their two ice arenas located on the Blue Hens’ campus. 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 competition for men and women college students and the chance to play competitive hockey at the collegiate level. The ACHA is made up of over 10,000 players. Team rosters are generally made up of student athletes who have skated in various junior leagues, on high school or prep school teams or on major midget level teams across North America. This year’s tourney culminates with the National Championship game at 7 PM on March 9, 2011 at Fred Rust Arena here in Newark Delaware. Pre tournament team rankings are shown along with a game synopsis on today’s quarter-final matchups. PHN is on site and will provide coverage of the semi-finals and finals Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunday’s Quarter-final games were all played at the Fred Rust Arena. # 3 Ohio University-6 vs. # 11 Oakland-2
The University of Ohio Bobcats broke open a tight game in the third period to move into the semi-final round. Originally the Bobcats roared out to a 3-0 lead in period one and appeared to have the game under control. Goals at 9:18 by Brett Agnew followed by two rapid fire strikes at 5:57 by Agnew again and then at 5:05 by John Luciana established a lead the Bobcats would not surrender. Agnew finished the game with three goals. However to Oakland’s credit the Golden Grizzles clawed their way back into the game 3-2 with an early second period power play goal by Adam Novak at 18:07 and with an even strength marker by Jesse Worrell at the 11:10 mark. Ohio University after regrouping during the second intermission reeled off three straight unanswered goals in the final period to move to the next round. Tyler Gilmore and Jake Holzemer struck first at 19:27 and 14:48 respectively. Next up Agnew earned his hat trick with a nice goal less than 40 seconds after the Holzemer strike. Blake Mac Nichol stopped 16 of 18 shots for the Bobcats while Alex Pikunas faced 33 shots in goal for Oakland University. #2 Davenport-9 vs. #7 Rhode Island-1
Davenport continued to impress tournament observers with a 9-1 victory while earning their first trip to the D-1 ACHA Semi-Finals. Previously the Panthers won three D-2 National Titles before moving up to the top classification. Sean McKenzie a freshman who played his junior hockey with the Bismark Bobcats of the North American Hockey League scored three times and added two assists for a five point performance. He got help from Matt Morang who had four points including two goals and from a two goal outburst by forward Bobby Collar. The other Davenport’ goals came off the sticks of Sean McWhorter and Davis Brandon. Winning goaltender Phil Graveline allowed one goal a power play strike on 20 total shots by the Rams. Rhode Island used two goal tenders with Paul Kenney surrendering eight goals while backup Matt DeJulio allowed the other score. Peter Ducharme got the Rams’ power play marker. #1 Lindenwood-4 vs. #9 Oklahoma-1
Lindenwood claimed their semi-final berth by beating a stubborn Oklahoma Sooners team 4-1. The Lions scored twice in period one and added additional goals in the second and third periods to finally pull away from the pesky Sooners. Lindenwood had rolled into the quarterfinals with a big 12-1 first round win. While the result of Lindenwood’s quarter-final matchup today was not really in doubt after period one, Oklahoma contested the game all sixty minutes. In the end the Lions’ roster depth was the difference. Grant Gorczyca out of St. Louis, Missouri led the Lions with two goals. Both came relatively late in period one as he scored with just under five minutes to play and just as though it looked like the Sooners would skate off trailing by just one goal a Sooners’ penalty set up Gorczyca’s second goal. The former NAHL player with the St. Louis Bandits junior team scored what turned out to be the game winner with less than a minute remaining in the opening stanza. Next up Colin Long put the Lions ahead 3-0 with their second power play goal at the 15:58 mark of period two. The Lions scored their fourth and final tally at 6:25 into the final stanza as Jeremy Meletti hammered home a power play as Gorczyca picked up his third point with an assist. Meanwhile net minder Robi Cavallari stayed perfect in goal until Keith Denton of Oklahoma broke up his shutout with a shorthanded goal with less than five minutes left in regulation time. Matt Pombo took the loss in goal for Oklahoma stopping 24 of 28 shots on goal. #4 Adrian-4 vs. #5 Delaware-5 (2-OT)
In the most exciting game of the tournament to date Delaware pulled their goalie with less than a minute left in regulation time, scored twice to tie the score at 4-4 and finally edged the Adrian Bulldogs 5-4 at 7:55 of the second overtime period with the sudden death win. Junior forward Kevin Miller out of Crofton, Maryland used a beautiful set up pass from another Marylander Josh Weiner out of Rockville to one time snap shot from the slot and placed it high over Bulldogs’ goalie Matt Anderson. The strike sent most of the estimated crowd of 1250 fans home tired but happy. Anderson faced 60 shots in the game. His counterpart winning net minder SJ Broadt was tested with 38 shots on goal. Brandon Weiner (2-g, 1-a) with three points, Mark Zeszut (1-g, 1-a) two points and Conner Moore with one goal led the scoring parade for Delaware. Adrian got offensive contributions from Ryan Bachman, Mike Yakamovich, Tom Ciaverilla and Joe Anstett who scored the four Bulldogs’ goals. In consolation round games today Slippery Rock got past Rutgers 8-6, Minot State used an empty net goal for a 6-4 win over Arizona State, Penn State outlasted Robert Morris University of Illinois 3-1 and two intrastate rivals met in the final game of the evening with Stony Brook out of New York beating Canton 5-3. The teams that advance have a day of practice and rest on Monday as action will pick up with the two semi-final games scheduled at Fred Rust Arena at 5 PM and 8 PM on Tuesday. The ACHA D-1 second ranked Davenport Panthers and the third ranked University of Ohio Bobcats will face off in the first matchup while the host fifth ranked Delaware Blue Hens draw number one ranked Lindenwood in the nightcap to determine the two 2011 finalists. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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