Men's Varsity Tops St. Norbert for 7th Harris Cup Title

The Men’s Varsity team took on the St. Norbert College Green Knights for the Harris Cup Final for the second year in a row on Saturday, March 5th, at Arrington Ice Arena.

It was obvious to fans as soon as the puck dropped what was at stake that night in a battle for a autobid into the NCAA tournament. In a back and forth game, Bryan Yim picked up the puck in the neutral zone with less than two minutes remaining in the first and snuck past the Green Knights defensemen and put the puck past the Green Knights goaltender to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. After one, the Bulldogs had the first lead of the game.

In a penalty filled second period, the Bulldogs sent shot after shot at the Knights goaltender, but to no avail. The Green Knights received their second penalty of the period at the 15:07 mark for hitting Mat Thompson from behind and the Bulldogs would be on the powerplay once again. Mat Thompson would take the puck through the neutral zone before passing to linemate Kyle Brothers at the blue line. Brothers would pass it over to Taylor McCloy, who was at the top of the opposite circle. McCloy’s shot would go low glove on the Green Knights goaltender and the Bulldogs would have a comfortable two goal lead heading into the third and final period of play.

The Green Knights would score their only goal of the game shorthanded at the 12:14 mark of the third period. The Bulldogs would once again have a two goal lead when Connor Armour shot the puck five hole and into the back the net after catching a no look spin-o-rama pass from Kyle Brothers. The Bulldogs would hold onto the 3-1 lead until the 19:50 mark. Jeremy Olinyk would send the puck just to the right of the empty net with less than thirty seconds remaining. Olinyk would beat the icing call and cut around the back of the net and put the puck into the back of the empty net to secure the win.

This is the Bulldogs 7th Harris Cup victory in their 9 year program history in their 8th Harris Cup final appearance. Coach Adam Krug now has four Harris Cups, two while captaining the Bulldogs and two while behind the bench. The Bulldogs await the D3 Selection Committee’s final rankings to see who they will face on March 12th at Arrington Ice Arena for the NCAA National Quarterfinal, their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Bulldogs had three players named to the NCHA All Tournament Team: Junior Austin Hervey, freshman Cory Dunn, and freshman Kevin Entmaa. Senior Assistant Captain Chris Leone was named the NCHA Tournament MVP.