See You in Columbus: D3 Gold is Headed Back to Nattys
The Men’s ACHA D3 Gold team took on the Grand Valley State University Lakers in the final game of Regional Playoffs this weekend. The Gold team would punch their ticket to the National Tournament with a win over the Lakers.
The Bulldogs would grab the first lead of the game at the 10:47 mark of the first. Justin Lindgren had skated to the bench for the extra attacker while awaiting a penalty call on the Lakers. Joe Laskero would grab the goal on an unassisted effort. The Bulldogs would then grab a powerplay goal 6 seconds later off of a shot from Matt Schwehr. Schwehr’s goal would be assisted by Joe Gibbs and Laskero. After twenty minutes, the boys in gold would lead 2-0.
Grand Valley would tie the game in the first 8 minutes of the second period on even strength and powerplay goals three minutes apart. Trevor Benaglio would be the hero six minutes later, sending home the goal to give the Bulldogs the lead once more. Chase Whallon and Andy Petersmark would tally assists on Benaglio’s goal. Paul Gorski would score on a breakaway four minutes later to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead through two periods of play.
After a penalty ridden third period, Philip Grippi would send home an empty net goal from the red line with 39 seconds left in the game to make it 5-2 Bulldogs.
With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the 2017 ACHA Men’s D3 National Tournament for the first time since 2014, where they made ACHA history as the first D3 team to win three straight national titles. The Bulldogs begin play at the National Tournament on March 14th when they face Florida Golf Coast at 5:00 pm in Columbus, Ohio.