The nationally No. 7-ranked Adrian College men’s hockey team closed 2019 with a resounding 8-1 victory over NCHA rival Trine in a non-conference game on Tuesday, backed by a balanced offense that saw 11 Bulldogs register at least one point on the evening. Freshman Zachary Heintz recorded his first career hat trick on a game-high seven shots on goal.
Sophomore Andrew Bellant led all scorers with four points on a goal and three assists. Junior Cameron Gray posted a career-high 32 saves to improve to 5-2-1 on the season. Senior Dino Balsamo and sophomore Sam Ruffin both had three points on a goal and pair of assists and won 13 and 12 face-offs, respectively, on identical 24 draws.
Sophomore defenseman Andrew McCann scored his first career goal among two points and senior Matt McNair also had a multi-point game with two assists. Freshman Alessio Luciani (12-of-19) and senior Vinny Post (8-for-14) also did well in the face-off dot.
No. 7-ranked Adrian College closed 2019 with a resounding 8-1 victory over NCHA foe Trine. Check out our recap on #ACTV 👇👇#D3Hky #GoDawgs #Hockey #HockeyTwitter #Adrian #GDTBAB @ACbulldoghockey @AdrianBulldogs pic.twitter.com/7sPEB3NU62
— Adrian College TV (@AdrianCollegeTV) January 2, 2020
Brendan Prappas scored Trine’s lone goal. He was 9-for-21 on face-offs. Corey Robertson and Justin Meers also found the scoresheet with assists on Prappas’ goal. TJ Delaney led the TU offense with six shots. Brandon Krumpschmid and Garrett Hallford were both 9-for-18 inside the face-off circle.
Adrian came out flying in the first period scoring four goals in a span of 14 minutes and 4 seconds, beginning with Bellant’s nifty goal from an acute angle just 18 seconds in. Bellant skirted around a TU player in his defensive zone and skated along the left wing boards down to near the offensive goal line, where he somehow lifted a backhand shot top shelf inside the right post.
Heintz scored his first goal of the night midway through the opening stanza and, like Bellant, he found the back of the net from a sharp angle. Heintz deked around two defenders and ripped a forehand shot from the left face-off circle over the goalie’s right shoulder into the top corner. Balsamo and Heintz wrapped up the scoring in the first 20 minutes.
Freshman Nick Lund potted his first career goal to make it 5-0 at 4:59 of the second period. Ruffin made it 6-0 with a power play marker just 24 seconds into the third period. With Trine on the man-advantage, Prappas spoiled Gray’s shutout bid at the 8:15 mark on a shot through traffic from the blue line. However, Heintz answered with a power-play goal for Adrian just 39 seconds later and McCann scored the final goal with 19 seconds left to wrap it up.
MOOSE / BULLDOGS BROADCAST INFO:
NCAA Regular Season Conference Contest
Utica Pioneer Moose @ Adrian Bulldogs
Date: Saturday, January 4th | Time: 7:05 pm ET
Location: Arrington Ice Arena – Adrian, Michigan
TV: Adrian College Television | Radio: 107.9 WVAC-FM
Adrian College Freshman @ZachHeintz posted his first career hat trick on Tuesday. Check out all three goals here 👇👇#D3Hky #GoDawgs #Hockey #HockeyTwitter #Adrian #GDTBAB @ACBulldogHockey @AdrianBulldogs pic.twitter.com/cfRp3lCEyZ
— Gabriel Schray (@schrayguy) January 2, 2020
Adrian outshot Trine 38-33 for the contest, including 17-7 in the third period when the Bulldogs sealed the win with three goals. The Thunder outshot the Bulldogs 17 to eight in the second period, but Gray stopped all of those 17 as Lund provided the only score.
Adrian has never lost to Trine in six all-meetings (6-0). The Bulldogs are 3-0 lifetime at home over the Thunder. Heintz has tied Balsamo for the team lead with eight goals.
Bellant tops the Bulldogs with 12 assists and 17 total points. The Bulldogs win their first New Year’s Eve game after three previous losses.
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.
