The nationally-ranked Adrian men’s hockey team completed its Northern Collegiate Hockey Association weekends series with visiting Finlandia on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 9-1 victory over the Lions, as 14 different Bulldogs recorded at least one point.
Sophomore Andrew Bellant and freshman Zachary Heintz both notched two goals and two assists for a career-high best four points each. Sophomore defenseman Andrew McCann had two assists.
Senior Vincent Paquette, sophomore Sam Ruffin and freshman Alessio Luciani also turned in multiple-point games with a goal and an assist each. Freshman goalie Nic Tallarico made 22 saves to get the win (2-0). Senior Dino Balsamo led Adrian in the face-off circle with 13 wins and 18 attempts; Ruffin added 10-for-15 and Luciani was 10-of-18.
Adrian scored three times in the first period and never looked back. Bellant scored a pair of power play goals starting 1 minute and 51 seconds after the opening face-off and then at the 17:11 mark. Heintz made it 3-0 with a goal just 16 seconds left. The Bulldogs blew the contest open with five goals in the second period. Five different Bulldogs scored a goal, including Paquette at 2:18 and Luciani and Heintz, both on the power play, to highlight the run.
The @AdrianBulldogs moved to 3-1-1 on the season with yesterday’s 7-0 win over Finlandia.
Check out the 7 goal outburst which included 2 markers each for Austin Bottrell and Vincent Paquette. Zach Heintz scored his first collegiate goal and 3 defensemen had multi assist games. pic.twitter.com/d9y2AChZjP
— Adrian College Hockey (@ACbulldoghockey) November 16, 2019
Peavey ruined Tallarico’s shutout bid with a tip-in goal on the man-advantage at the 14:58 mark of the third period. Adrian converted 4-of-6 power play attempts, held the Lions to 1-for-5 and outshot the visitors by a 56 to 23 count. As a team, the Bulldogs won 41 of 71 face-off draws.
The Bulldogs improve to 26-1 all-time against Finlandia, including a 14-0 mark on home-ice. Bellant now leads the AC offense with eight assists and 11 total points, while Balsamo is first with seven goals and second with 10 points. The Bulldog power play is 12-of-34 for a .353 clip, leading the country in power play goals and attempts while ranking fourth in efficiency.
With 21 goals during a season-best three-game winning streak, Adrian takes over the NCAA Division III lead with a 5.33 goals per game.
BULLDOGS / SPARTANS BROADCAST INFO:
NCHA Ice Hockey Regular Season Contest
Adrian College Bulldogs @ Aurora University Spartans
Date: Saturday, November 23rd | Time: 7:05 pm ET
Location: Aurora University – Aurora, Illinois
TV: None | Radio: 95.5 FM, The Cave
Adrian travels to Aurora University in Illinois next weekend for an important NCHA series. Both games on Saturday and Sunday are set to start at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 Central.
This article was written using a press release and information generated by Adrian College’s sports information department. 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.
