D3 Gold Sweeps University of Michigan Flint
The Men’s ACHA D3 Gold team took on the Wolverines of the University of Michigan-Flint this past weekend in a home-at-home series.
The Bulldogs travelled to Flint on Friday night to play the first game of the series. Despite outshooting the Wolverines by over forty shots after the first two periods, the Bulldogs trailed the Wolverines 1-2 going into the final frame. The Bulldogs would tie the game in the final period of play and for a while it appeared that the contest would need an extra 5 minutes of hockey until junior Jack Clary buried his second goal of the season with 1:06 remaining in regulation to give the Bulldogs the W. The Bulldogs would outshoot the Wolverines 89-20 on Friday night in Flint.
Freshman Phil Grippi got the scoring started at the 5:56 mark of the first period Saturday afternoon, notching his first collegiate goal to give the Bulldogs the first lead of the game. Grippi would send home the rebound after senior Paul Gorski would shoot the puck off of the pad of the goaltender and Grippi would send it in back door to make it a 1-0 game. The Wolverines would tie the game at the 16:20 mark of the first after a questionable call on senior Nick Bordeaux. Junior Zack MacKay, however, would grab his first of the season with 24 seconds left in the period to make it a 2-1 game. Gorski would once again grab an assist on the second Bulldog goal. After one, the Bulldogs had a 2-1 lead and were outshooting the Wolverines 28-8.
Clary would grab his second of the series and first of the afternoon at the 3:51 mark of the second. Juniors Andy Petersmark and Trevor Benaglio would grab assists on Clary’s goal. Junior Alex Egan grabbed his first of the season two minutes later, giving the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead. Freshman Matt Heim and sophomore Joe Gibbs would notch assists on Egan’s goal. Freshman Michael Butler would grab his first goal as a Bulldogs with 57 seconds to go in the middle frame. Senior Mitch Bancroft would get the lone assist on Butler’s goal. After two, the Bulldogs were up 5-1 and outshooting the Wolverines 55-14.
Sophomore Brandon McClean would tally the final goal of the game at the 18:18 mark of the third period, notching his second of the season with the lone assist going to senior Nick Bordeaux. The final buzzer would sound and the Bulldogs would best the Wolverines yet again, this time by a score of 81-17, outshooting the Wolverines 170-37 over a two game span.
The Bulldogs travel to Oakland University this Thursday night for a matchup against the reigning national champions who have only lost a single game since meeting up with the Gold team on January 16th, 2016. The Bulldogs and Golden Grizzlies will meet up at Arrington Ice Arena once again on Friday, October 21st at 7:00 pm.
3 Stars of the Weekend
1*Mitch Bancroft: Senior defenseman Mitch Bancroft tallied three assists on two games, including the game tying goal away at Flint Friday night.
2**Jack Clary: Junior forward Jack Clary tallied two goals over the weekend, including the crucial goal in the final minutes of the game in Flint to give the Bullodgs the win.
3***Joe Laskero: Freshman forward Joe Laskero notched two points in the series, scoring the goal that got the Bulldogs on the board Friday night in Flint and the assist on Clary’s game winner the same night.