Freshman Zachary Heintz scored perhaps his most important goal in his first season wearing the Black and Gold when he notched the game-winner 65 seconds into overtime with Adrian on the power play, as the Bulldogs rallied for a 5-4 Senior Day victory on Saturday to sweep their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series with NCHA leader Lake Forest. Adrian, which also won 4-1 less than 24 hours earlier, now trail the Foresters by two points with four games left for both nationally-ranked teams.
Junior goalie Cameron Gray posted 22 saves to improve to 10-4-1 on the season. Senior defenseman Joey Colatarci assisted on three goals in his final regular-season game at home. Senior Vinny Post also enjoyed a multi-point afternoon with a goal and an assist. Sophomore Sam Ruffin, who had an assist, led Adrian in the face-off circle with 14 wins against 25 draws. Senior Dino Balsamo also had 14 face-off wins in 30 draws.
Austin Aksoy tallied a goal and an assist while going 5-for-6 on face-offs. Drew Shields had a game-best 16 face-off wins in 28 draws. Boyd DiClemente stopped 41 shots to drop to 15-3-1 on the season. Aaron O’Neill was 12-for-25 in the face-off dot while recording three points on a goal and two assists. Adrian was 2-for-6 on the power play while Lake Forest was 2-for-5. The Bulldogs outshot the Foresters 41 to 26.
Adrian College NCAA Hockey HC Adam Krug discussing the weekend sweep of no. 6 Lake Forest and what's next for @ACbulldoghockey#godawgs #bulldogs #adriancollege #adrian #d3hky #hockey #actv #livetv #streaming #tv pic.twitter.com/iwXJIIpSKU
— Adrian College TV (@AdrianCollegeTV) February 2, 2020
The game-winning goal started when Colatarci started a breakout out of the Bulldogs’ defensive zone before passing the puck to Ruffin near center ice. Ruffin then used his speed to get past a couple LFC defenders on the left wing before placing a perfect backdoor pass to a wide-open Heintz for the decisive goal. With 6 minutes and 3 seconds left in regulation, Lake Forest’s Mark DerManulian sent the game into the extra five-minute period when he intercepted an AC clearing pass at the blue line along the right point and wristed a shot through the air as the puck somehow went over Gray’s glove.
Adrian scored three unanswered goals in the second period after falling behind 2-0 with Aaron O’Neill’s power play tally just 42 seconds in. Beginning with Post’s goal at 2:01 to get Adrian on the scoreboard, junior Dean Hewines and Balsamo scored 17:41 apart to give the ‘Dawgs their first lead at 3-2 after 20 minutes. Balsamo’s goal, which was his team-leading 13th on the season, came on the power play with just 18 seconds left.
In the third period, Lake Forest tied it 3-3 on Aksoy’s goal at 6:18 before sophomore defenseman Matt Eller found the back of the net 3:01 later on a shot from the point through traffic and Adrian went ahead again, 4-3. Josh Giacomin gave Lake Forest a 1-0 lead on a power play goal at 6:09 of the first period. For the second day in a row, Adrian had a goal disallowed by the officials. Adrian improves to 30-1-1 lifetime against Lake Forest, including a 17-0-1 record on home-ice.
OVERTIME AGAIN 👀🚨🚨 The @AdrianBulldogs (no. 13) tied with Lake Forest (no. 6) 4-4. Tune in live NOW on @AdrianCollegeTV. You can find us on YouTube and on WVAC#godawgs #bulldogs #actv #d3hky #live #livetv #tv #freestream #hockey #ncha #overtimehttps://t.co/m763EM61pG
— Gabriel Schray (@schrayguy) February 1, 2020
The Bulldogs are now 11-0-2 when holding a lead after the second period. Eller and Hewines scored their first goals of the season today. In a pregame ceremony, the eight-member senior class for the Bulldogs–plus Hewines, who is graduating in three years–was honored for its contributions to the program. The Bulldogs have equaled their longest winning streak of the season at five games. During this stretch, Adrian has outscored the opposition 26-11.
Adrian has tied the 2013-14 squad for the most overtime games in a single season at seven. Ruffin leads Adrian in scoring with 31 points and 23 assists–both ranked second in the conference. Balsamo tops the NCHA in power-play points with 15 on seven goals and eight assists. Colatarci now has 6+12=18 scoring totals to set personal records in a season for goals (6) and points (18). Lake Forest loses its first game when leading after the first period (9-1).
Adrian begins a four-game road swing at Concordia-Wisconsin on Friday (8 p.m. Eastern) and Saturday (5 p.m. Eastern).
This article was written using a press release and information generated by Adrian College’s sports information department and Patrick Stewart. It is nearly entirely a repost of the original press release. For more college sports, follow us on Twitter @MWSNsports or like our page on Facebook.
