2017-18 Season Wrap Up
The 2017-18 season officially came to a close on March 18th, 2018 and several team and program records were set in the 11th season of Bulldog hockey.
Men's NCAA
The Men's NCAA team had a few familiar faces on the bench this season. The program's first All American, Shawn Skelly '11, and defenseman Rob Hodnicki '11, joined the Bulldog coaching staff, Skelly as the Bulldogs' new assistant and Hodnicki as a volunteer assistant.
The Bulldogs, lead by all former Bulldogs, began their season on the road and suffered their first loss of the season in overtime to their longtime foes, the St. Norbert College Green Knights. The Bulldogs came back to win their regular season home opener against Trine University.
After their 3rd 4 game skid in program history, the Bulldogs went on a tear, racking up a 16 game win streak that began on December 30th against the Williams College Ephs that included an overtime thriller against St. Norbert College and ended with a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Green Knights in the Harris Cup Final. The season would come to a halt against familiar foe, the Wisconsin Steven's Point Pointers by a score of 5-2.
Three days later, Bulldog captain and NCHA Player of the Year Mathew Thompson would become the 15th former Bulldog to go pro, signing a tryout contract and then a standard contract with the Indy Fuel of the ECHL.
Taylor McCloy and Cory Dunn would be named All NCHA and Head Coach Adam Krug the NCHA Coach of the Year. Thompson and Dunn would then be named First Team All American West while McCloy would be named Second Team All American West.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Taylor McCloy: Forward Taylor McCloy had his best season in his career in his final year with the Bulldogs. McCloy came out hot and finished hot, scoring 24 goals and adding 14 assists for a career high 38 points. McCloy would be the Bulldogs' first 20 goal scorer since the 2014-15 season this year and the lone Bulldogs to rack up 20 as well. His 24 goals included back to back hat tricks in the Harris Cup Playoffs, netting three each in the second game of the quarterfinal series and the semifinals alone with two goals in the first quarterfinal game and a goal in the NCAA quarterfinal game.
Braden Hellems: Junior defenseman Braden Hellems came up huge for the Bulldogs this season. After Blake Butzow was sidelined early on this season, Hellems proved to be just the right defensive parter for two time All American Cory Dunn and earned a place on the top D pairing of the team. Hellems ended up third on the team in +/- with a +22 on top of 5 goals and 26 assists for 21 points in 28 games played this season.
Women's NCAA
The Women's NCAA team set the bar high for the 2017-18 season last year, reaching the National Championship game for the first time in program history. The Bulldogs, however, also lost 10 seniors in the highly talented Class of 2017, which included Kaylyn Schroka, Sarah Shureb and Kristin Lewicki who would all sign with the Buffalo Beauts of the NWHL during the off-season.
The Bulldogs did not disappoint, winning both the regular season as well as the Slaats Cup for the playoff championship as well as they posted a 22-6-1 record overall and a 16-1-1 record in the NCHA.
The end of the road, however, would come earlier than planned for the Bulldogs in the NCAA quarterfinals on the road at Elmira College by a score of 2-0.
Kate Turner would be named the NCHA Rookie of the Year and Head Coach Chad Davis the Coach of the Year. Olivia Fox, Tory Harshman, Kristi Zink, Kelly O'Sullivan and Turner would all be named to the All NCHA Team while freshmen Brooke Schembri and Turner would be named to the NCHA All Freshman Team. O'Sullivan would be named First Team All American West while Turner and Zink Second Team All American West.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Kate Turner: Freshman Kate Turner is phenomenal, there really isn't any other way to put it. The rookie net minder didn't even play competitive hockey last season, but came out and set a new record for shutouts in program history this season with 13 as she posted an impressive 21-6-1 record and a .99 GAA.
Kristi Zink: Captain and senior defenseman Kristi Zink had a fantastic senior season with the Bulldogs. Now an All American defenseman, Zink sent home a career high 5 goals and added 22 assists for another career high 27 points in 29 games. 3 of her 5 goals would come on the Bulldog powerplay and 1 would be a game winning goal.
MD1
The MD1 team had high expectations for this season after their first appearance in the ACHA National Semifinals last season where they would drop a 4-2 decision to the Ohio University Bobcats. The Bulldogs had 1 goal this season, a national championship.
The MD1 team came out hot this season, winning their first 13 games, outscoring their opponents 99-13 before dropping their first game by a score of 2-3 to the Stony Brook Sea Wolves.
The Bulldogs would bounce back with a 7-0 victory the next night and didn't look back after that, winning out the regular season and then rolling their way through GLCHL playoffs, becoming the regular season champions for the 6th time in program history and playoff champions for the 4th time in program history. The MD1 team began the season at the #4 spot in the weekly rankings, climbing up to #2 and eventually #1 in November before holding onto the #2 spot for the entire second semester leading up to the ACHA National Tournament.
The Bulldogs would dominate the National Tournament, besting Stony Brook 4-0 in game 1, defending National Champions, University of Central Oklahoma 5-3 and Lindenwood University 4-0 to make their first appearance in the National Championship game.
8-1 would be the final score in favor of the Bulldogs for their first National Championship in program history.
The Bulldogs would finish 34-1 for their winningest season in program history while the Class of 2018 goes out as the winningest class in program history, posting a 117-13 record in four seasons, including 3 undefeated seasons at Arrington Ice Arena.
Brad Kobryn would be named the GLCHL Regular Season MVP while Austyn Roudebush would take home the Playoff MVP honors. Head Coach Gary Astalos would be named GLCHL Coach of the Year for the second time in as many seasons as Bulldog bench boss. Kobryn, Roudebush, Marcel Kottek, JP Grineau and Joe Costello would all be named 1st Team All GLCHL while Marcus Rose would be the lone Bulldog on the 2nd Team All GLCHL. Jordan Oshowy and Mike Finger would both be named to the All Rookie team while Dan Stone and Kyle Perkowksi would be named to the All Defensive team.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Austyn Roudebush: Senior net minder Austyn Roudebush had the best season of his career this season as he posted a 26-0 record for a perfect season, earning 10 shutouts, GLCHL Playoff MVP and ACHA National Tournament MVP. Roudebush put up astounding numbers, posting a .963 SV% , 582 saves, 10 shutouts and a .955 GAA, only allowed 24 goals in 26 games. Roudebush put up 2 shutouts in the GLCHL playoffs as well as 2 in the ACHA National Tournament.
Brad Kobrny: Is it even really my MD1 Impactful Players section of a season preview, mid season recap or season wrap up without Brad Kobryn featured? I guess it will have to be next season, but we he'll sneak in her one last time in his final season. Senior forward Brad Kobryn did not slow down in his final season with the MD1 team. Leading the team in points for the 3rd time in his 4 years with 41 goals and 23 assists for 64 points in 35 games played, Kobryn now holds every record for points and goals in a career for not just the MD1 team, but the entire Adrian College Hockey program's history with 167 goals and 88 assists for a whopping 255 points in 135 career games.
WACHA
The Women's ACHA team took home their second regular season championship and won their first playoff title as well this season. They held onto the #2 spot in the National Rankings nearly all season, holding the #1 spot for a week before slipping back down to #2 after a loss to the Liberty Flames.
WACHA outscore their CCWHA opponents 92-10 in 14 league games, good news for their Wounded Warrior Project Goal A Thon fundraiser to raise money for veterans throughout the season. The Bulldogs would go undefeated in CCWHA play this season, only tying once to Michigan State.
The Bulldogs would take the best of three series with the UMass Minutewomen in two games to move onto the semfinal game against the Redhawks, whom they would top 1-0. The Bulldogs and Liberty Flames would face off for the National Title. After a scoreless first, the Flames would strike first to head into the third with the Bulldogs down 1-0. The Flames would add a second with 4:30 to go in the game before Danica Polson would get the Bulldogs on the board with 47 seconds remaining. That would be all she wrote though as the Bulldogs would fall 2-1 in the National Championship game.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Alison Dungey: Netminder Alison Dungey is a huge loss for the Bulldogs this season. Dungey went 20-3 this season, playing 1243:07 in the regular season and earning 4 shutouts and only allowing 26 goals in those 23 games. Dungey would post a 1.25 GAA in the regular season and a .98 GAA in the National Tournament along with a .946 SV% in the regular season and a .957 SV% in the National Tournament.
Kaillie Hardy: Junior forward Kaillie Hardy is a powerhouse on the ice, leading the team in points every season with the Bulldogs. This season, she became the first member of WACHA to hit the 100 point mark in their career and this season became the first WACHA player to post 50 points in a single season. Hardy has compiled 57 goals and 71 assists for 128 career points to hold the career points record for the team.
MD2
In their first season as an ACHA D2 team, the MD2 team, a team that consisted of 16 freshmen, made it all the way to the National Tournament and through the Regional Tournament to get there.
The MD2 team posted a 16-8-1 record to finish the season ranked #7 in the Central Region and paired up against the Grand Valley State University Lakers. The Lakers were heavily favored to best the Bulldogs, but the Bulldogs would come out with a 4-3 overtime victory over the #6 ranked Lakers. One win away from the National Tournament, the Bulldogs only had the #3 McKendree BearCats between them and a trip to Columbus, Ohio.
It would take overtime once again for the #7 ranked Bulldogs to top the BearCats to punch their ticket to the National Tournament.
The Bulldogs would go 1-2 at the National Tournament, losing to William Patterson and the eventual National Champions, Florida Gulf Coast University.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Brandong McLean: Captain Brandon McLean came in clutch for the Bulldogs time and time again this season. McLean may not have been the one making fancy moves or unbelievable plays, but he was the one making things happen for the young Bulldog team. As one of few upperclassmen, McLean wore the C for the young MD2 team in his junior season this year and lead the team in points, netting 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points this season.
Jack Clary: One of three seniors on the young Bulldog team, forward Jack Clary wore an A in his final season as a Bulldog with the MD2 team. Clary was also 1 of only 5 players to have played on the D3 Gold team last season before the team moved up to D2 this season. He finished 5th on the team in points with 10 goals and 9 assists for 19 points in 19 games in his senior season. Clary and lineman Adrien Sebag proved effective both on the powerplay and on the penalty kill for the Bulldogs this season.
WD2:
In their first season in program history, the WD2 team posted a 15-4 record in their first season of play with a team composed entirely of underclassmen.
The Bulldogs won every regular season game played before dropping two games in the round robin of CCWHA D2 playoffs. The Bulldogs were also ranked #1 in the West in the first ranking in program history in November as well before falling back to the #5 spot before the National Tournament in March in Columbus, Ohio.
The Bulldogs would go 1-2 during their first National Tournament, picking up their lone win against the University of Delaware.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Katie Hayward: The freshman forward from Livonia, Michigan should probably add "clutch" to her name because that's what she has been the entire season for the Bulldogs. Hayward scored the first goal in program history in the inaugural game this past September and has been nothing but clutch for the Bulldogs the entire season.
Victoria Poland: The netminder from Rhode Island came up big for the Bulldogs in her first season of college hockey. Poland picked up her first win for the Bulldogs their second weekend series of the season and picked up 10 wins this season en route to their undefeated regular season and regular season title.
MD3:
The MD3 team has more than their fair share of both seniors and freshmen this season, graduating 14 seniors this year.
The D3 Bulldogs began with an impressive 10-4 start to the season before dropping the next 9 of their final 10 games of the season.
Despite their 11-15 record, the MD3 team qualified for the North Regional Tournament as the #8 seed. First, the Bulldogs took on the Grand Valley State Lakers and took down the #5 Lakers and MCHC opponents 3-2 to head to the Regional Final. The Bulldogs, however, could not top the #3 Hope College Flying Dutchmen and would fall 7-3 to the eventual D3 National Champions.
Players Who Made an Impact:
Michael Butler: The sophomore forward was named assistant captain this season and lead the team in points with 17 goals and 32 assists for 49 points in only 25 games. Butler not only averaged nearly half a point per game this season, but was also a difference maker on both the penalty kill and powerplay. Butler may not be the biggest player on the ice, but his speed and skill make him one of the most valuable players for the MD3 team.
Paul Gorski: The super senior/grad student had a career year in his swan song with the MD3 team. Gorski came in third in points and tallied 11 goals and 21 assists, both career highs for Gorski. Gorski, formerly known as "the Goon", became more of a skill and role player for the Bulldogs, finding a place on the top line with Butler and Henry Gabriel this season.
It was a whirlwind of a season this year for the Bulldogs, especially the gameday staff at Arrington Ice Arena, the first season with 7 Bulldog hockey teams ended with all 7 teams ranked in the top 10 in their respective divisions and rankings and 6 of 7 teams appearing in their respective national tournaments.
With the MD2 and WD2 team's lone wins in their respective national tournaments, the Bulldogs have not only competed at every level of the ACHA National Tournament, but won a game at each level of the ACHA National Tournament.,
The 11th season of Bulldog hockey ended with 5 Regular Season titles, 3 Playoff Titles, 2 National Quarterfinalists, 1 National Runner Up and 1 National championship. Needless to say, the 12th season of Bulldog hockey cannot come soon enough.