2016: A Year in Review
As the calendar year winds down, let’s take a look back at some of the memorable moments from the six Adrian College hockey teams.
March 2016: Men’s Varsity Wins 7th Harris Cup
The Men’s NCAA team bested St. Norbert 4-2 in the Harris Cup Final this past March. The Bulldogs captured their 7th NCHA Playoff title with the win and second in a row under Coach Krug. Defenseman Chris Leone was named MVP of the tournament. You can find a link to the original story here.
March 2016: W. Varsity Captures First SLAATS Cup
The Women’s NCAA team also beat St. Norbert to with the Women’s NCHA Playoff Title. This was the Bulldogs’ first SLAATS Cup victory and second playoff title (2011 being the first) in school history. Goaltender Jade Walsh was named MVP of the tournament. You can read the original story here.
March 2016: WACHA Makes it to National Semifinals
The Women’s ACHA team became semifinalists for the second time in their four year program history this past winter. They also went 3-0 in pool play for the first time as well, defeating Rhode Island, UMass and Miami. They would drop the semifinal game on a controversial overtime call. WACHA also saw their first recruiting class complete their careers at Adrian. You can read about their accomplishments here.
April 2016: Chris Leone Becomes 12th Bulldog to Go Pro
Former Men’s NCAA captain Chris Leone first signed a contract with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL in April where he notched his first professional goal in only his second career game. Leone went on to sign a contract with the Kalamazoo K-Wings of the ECHL.
April 2016: Tyler Parks Signs With Missouri Mavericks
Goaltender Tyler Parks would choose to forgo his senior year at Adrian and returned to his hometown to play for the Missouri Mavericks of the ECHL. Parks would later earn his first pro shutout this fall with the Mavericks.
October 2016: Tenth Season of Bulldog Hockey Begins
The puck dropped for the tenth season of hockey for the Men’s and Women’s NCAA team along with the Men’s ACHA D1 team. Black and Gold are in their 8th season this year. And WACHA is playing in their fifth season in program history.
November 2016: Brad Kobryn of MD1 Breaks All Time Scoring Record
Junior Brad Kobryn is on a roll this season. He broke the ACHA record for goals in a career on October 28th when he notched his 101st career goal. He would break the All Time Adrian record for goals on November 6th with his 103rd career goal. You can read about Kobryn’s accomplishments here.
November 2016: Kristin Lewicki Becomes Women's All Time Points Leader
Junior Kristin Lewicki bested former teammate Kelsey Kusch’s point and goal record for any women’s player at Adrian this November, making her the all time leading goal scorer and point getter in Adrian Women’s Hockey history.
November 2016: WACHA Earns First #1 Ranking
The Women’s ACHA team began the season 10-0, including a sweep of the reigning national champions Miami University (OH) and earned their first #1 weekly ranking this November. You can read about it here.
December 2016: MD1 Ends Semester as #2 in the Country
The Men’s ACHA D1 team is on a roll this semester, only dropping one game out of 19. The Bulldogs’ performance this semester was enough to earn them a #2 ranking going into the semester break.
The best part of the season is just around the corner and there are many questions that are going to be answered. Will the Men’s team capture their first National Title in their tenth anniversary season? Will Women’s NCAA win back to back SLAATS Cups? Will D3 Gold get back into the national tournament? Will MD1 snag their first National Title? Will WACHA grab their first National Title? The answers to all these questions and more is coming soon and I for one am hoping the all around answer is yes.