#ItsMoreThanJustClubHockey: The Class of 2016 Paved the Way for Women's Club Hockey at Adrian Co
For the first time in program history, the Women’s ACHA team will be graduating a class of seniors who spent all four of their years at Adrian College. In the four years that Ellyn Stanton, Katie Barnes, Kaylee Harnen, Alex Godre, Demi Russo, Shannon Osland, and Kayla Vanston have been with the program, the Adrian College Bulldogs have become a dominant team in both the Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association and the American College Hockey Association Division 1, making three appearances at the National Tournament in their four years of existence and advancing to the National Semifinals twice in those three years.
Photo courtesy of adrianbulldogs.com
The Bulldogs began their inaugural season under former Bulldog Zach Galia as the Lady Bulldogs with two losses to Robert Morris and a tie with powerhouse Miami University (OH). On October 20th, 2012, the Lady Bulldogs would record their first win against the Redhawks, coming out with the top end of a 4-3 score when the final buzzer went. The Lady Bulldogs went 11-7-3 in their inaugural season.
Photo courtesy of adrianbulldogs.com
In the 2013-14 season, the Lady Bulldogs added former Women’s NCAA DIII players Amanda Antos, Nichole Laflamme, Becca Napoli, and goaltender Emily Michelin, the first Adrian Women’s Hockey Player to be named All American. Head Coach Zach Galia would leave the program after November, the team would post an overall record of 21-8-5 under Galia. Former ACHA DIII Gold coach Brett Berger would return to Adrian to coach the Lady Bulldogs, known as just the Bulldogs after Berger’s takeover in December of 2013.
During that second season, the Bulldogs broke the Adrian College record for shots on goal in a 21-1 victory over the Central Michigan University Chippewas on a blustery November afternoon when they sent a whopping 107 shots on goal in a 60 minute span, averaging nearly 2 shots per minute in the game. That game would be the final game for Coach Zach Galia and Coach Brett Berger would record his first win with the program on December 8th against the Michigan State Spartans.
The Bulldogs would not win the CCWHA League title, however, they would receive a bid to the 2014 ACHA Women’s Division I National Championships that season. This season, however, they would not make it out of pool play and would end the season with a 17-8-5 record, a program record for wins.
The 2014-15 season would once again set a new program record in wins as the Bulldogs posted a 19-8-6 record in Brett Berger’s first full season as Head Coach. The Bulldogs would once again not make it to the CCWHA Finals but still receive a bid to Nationals where they went 1-1-1 to make it to the National Semifinals. The Bulldogs would drop the National Semifinal game to the Liberty University Flames 3-0 to end their season, but not without writing Adrian College Hockey history, making it to the National Semifinals for the first time in program history.
In their final season as Bulldogs, the Class of 2016 once again saw a record breaking season as the team won 20+ games for the first time in program history. The team set a new record for wins in a season this year, posting a 20-7-1 record through 28 games in both the regular and postseason. Among those 20 wins were two big wins over powerhouse Miami University (Ohio). The Bulldogs would drop the first game of the series against Miami by a score of 2-0 at home, despite outplaying the Redhawks for most of the game. The Bulldogs, however, would come back the next day and defeat the Redhawks 1-0 on a late goal by senior Jessie Rushing to hand the #1 ranked Redhawks their first shutout loss in nearly two seasons and their first loss of the season. The Bulldogs would once again face the Redhawks in the third and final game of pool play in the 2016 Women’s ACHA Division I National Championships. The Redhawks would strike first this time, however, the Bulldogs would score 4 unanswered goals in the first and second period and halt a MIami comeback in the third to win the game and the pool 4-3. The Bulldogs also swept the CCWHA champions, the Grand Valley State University Lakers by scores of 3-2 and 3-0 in the regular season.
“Some big games or weekends were the split with Miami at home as well as sweeping GVSU,” said head coach Brett Berger, “I thought at the National Tournament our team was playing the best hockey there. This season we went 2-1 against the national champion Miami Redhawks.”
The National Tournament certainly was the best hockey played all season. The Bulldogs were obviously out for vengeance after being defeated in the National Semifinal the season beforehand. For the first time in program history, the Bulldogs would sweep pool play by scores of 3-2 over University of Massachusetts Amherst, 7-3 over Rhode Island University, and 4-3 over the Miami Redhawks. The Bulldogs would face the Grand Valley State University Lakers in the National Semifinal game. The Bulldogs would strike first when Sabrena Camp found the back of the net for the Bulldogs, however, the Lakers would tie the game late in the third period on a powerplay to send the game to overtime.
The Bulldogs would then score what was thought to be the game winning goal not once, but twice, the first in overtime and the second in double overtime. Valerie Twigg would sneak the puck through the five hole of GVSU goaltender Laura Allen in the first overtime off of a shot from just inside the blue line that would later be called off by officials.
“I only have one word, ticked! I remember standing there waiting for the call and this feeling of she's going to call it off came over me, and all at once I was just so angry because of course that's what she was going to do. I went from being so overjoyed and in tears to strait ticked off, just made me want to win even more! But we all know how that went,” said Twigg of her overturned goal in the first period of overtime.
In the second overtime, Samantha Fortune would score yet another goal for the Bulldogs that would then be called off after reviewing the extremely low quality video footage to determine that Fortune was not onside when she caught the pass.
“It's funny because In between periods when they were resurfacing for the 2nd OT Sabrena Camp said that I was going to score the game winner. Then when I did I laughed so hard and cellied even harder. It went from the best feeling in the world to the worst feeling in the world In a matter of minutes. Who knows if I'll ever have a goal that big again,” says a disappointed Fortune.
The Lakers would then get a powerplay off of a questionable call on the Bulldogs and score on the powerplay, ending the Bulldogs season a game early in a heartbreaking fashion.
Over the four year program history, the Women’s ACHA DI Bulldogs have posted a 67-30-16 record overall and a 49-23-10 record under current head coach Brett Berger and gone from a mediocre team to a team that nobody looks forward to facing off against. They’ve made three appearances at the ACHA Women’s Division I National Tournament and two appearances in the National Semifinals, but the things that the Class of 2016 have done for women’s and girls hockey at Adrian College and in the Adrian area are so much bigger than numbers on a stat sheet or a banner hanging in the rink or even a National Title.
To the Class of 2016, I’d like to say thank you. Whether you knew it or not, you grew the game in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Not only that, but you paved the way for girls like me to have the opportunity to play college hockey at Adrian. Five years ago, I never would’ve had a shot at playing college hockey but since you guys have made this program a huge success, I now have a chance and so do other girls who are just like me.
So to Katie Barnes, Alex Godre, Summer Frey, Kaylee Harnen, Nichole Laflamme , Virginia Matherly, Shannon Osland, Jessie Rushing, Demi Russo, Ellyn Stanton, and Kayla Vanston. thank you, thank you for paving the way, thank you for skating with me at open skates, sticks and pucks, and for letting me skate with you guys on your own ice. What you have done for Adrian College, what you’ve done for Adrian Hockey, what you’ve done for girl’s and women’s hockey will live on in girls like me who you’ve inspired and motivated because it’s more than just club hockey.
