The Bulldog NCAA hockey team beat Northland in a two game sweep with final scores of 13-3 and 7-3. (photo by Sydney Wlodyka)
The Adrian College NCAA Hockey team swept their weekend series with Northland College 13-3 and 7-3 last Friday and Saturday. Juniors Mike Dahlinger and Quinn Waller set records and junior Brad Houston completed his third career hat trick in Friday’s game.
“We played extremely well on offense, but we were not as good on defense,” junior Sam Kuzyk said. “We gave up too many goals as a team and need to tighten up our performance [on defense].”
Both Kuzyk and junior Shawn Skelly turned in strong performances.
The Bulldogs started the scoring early in the first period with a power play goal only 1:22 into the first period as junior Eric Miller scored in a crossing pass from Skelly. Later in the period, with 5:46 remaining, Houston scored his first goal on the night on assists from Dahlinger and Kuzyk. Northland came right back and scored a power play goal off of a rebound with 4:27 remaining in the first period. The Bulldogs kept up the pressure as Houston was assisted again from Dahlinger and Kuzyk with 2:22 to go.
The scoring streak continued into the second period as Kuzyk and Dahlinger scored goals only 13 seconds apart giving the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead with 11:52 to go in the second period. Houston extended the lead to 7-1, scoring his hat-trick goal on assists from Freshman Kyle Crawford and Dahlinger with 4:29 to play in the second period. The Bulldogs finished the period with a 10-1 lead, out scoring Northland 7-0 in the period.
The third period provided record breaking plays for the Bulldogs as Dahlinger completed his fifth and sixth assists of the night to set the school and MCHA record for assists in a game, and, with his two goals in the game, set a school record for points in a game, but was a point short of tying the same MCHA record. Waller set the MCHA career record for assists by a defenseman on Adrian’s twelfth goal of the night, assisting junior Kyle Watson with 11:31 left to go in the game.
The Bulldogs continued to dominate on Saturday as Skelly put two in the back of the net, while Dahlinger scored once and was credited with one assist. Saturday was also a solid night for Houston, who was credited with one goal and one assist, as well as Kuzyk, who lead the team to a 7-3 win with a goal and two assists.
“We [Kuzyk and Dahlinger] have played together the last two and a half years, along with Houston,” said Kuzyk. “We know where everyone is on the ice while we’re out there.”
The opening period ended with Adrian up 2-0 on goals by Houston and junior Jeremy Klaver. As the second period started, Shawn Skelly wasted no time extending the lead to 4-0, scoring consecutive goals only 33 seconds apart, at 1:02 and 1:35 into the second period. The period ended with Adrian leading 6-1. Northland began showing life, scoring the first two goals of the period and were in position to inch closer as they had a 5-3 man advantage over the Bulldogs with 5:34 to play, but junior goalie Brad Fogal came through and stopped the Lumberjacks from their comeback attempt. Eric Miller ended the game’s scoring with 3:07 to play.
On Friday night, the hockey program is hosting Hockey Helps Heal Hunger. They will be collecting non-perishable food items to donate to St. Mary’s Catholic Church Food Pantry. For each donated item, a ticket is given for a chance to win Dominos Pizza.
The next four games the NCAA hockey team will play will be held at the Arrington Ice Arena.
This weekend, the Bulldogs play host to Lake Forest in a two-game series. Lake Forest is a new team to the MCHA this year and a new opponent for the Bulldogs.
“They’re a new team for us that we didn’t play last year,” Kuzyk said. “We are excited at the opportunity to play them and see a new look from a new team. In the end, we still expect to come away with two wins.”