Adrian, Marian and Finlandia All Record Weekend Sweeps

MCHA Players of the Week

MCHA Player of the Year
1011 graham_zach

Zach Graham, Adrian College

MCHA Coach of the Year

Ron Fogarty, Adrian College

EricMiller Plenty of storylines remain in place as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association enters the final month of the regular season. In the Southern Division, Adrian College and MSOE both swept weekend series to remain deadlocked heading down the stretch. The Bulldogs (6-1 and 9-2 winners over Finlandia) and Raiders (2-0 and 4-2 over Lawrence) are now tied at 12-1-1 in MCHA play and, coincidentally, 15-3-1 overall. A head-to-head series to close out the regular season looms the final weekend.

Northland College continues its recent run of success, earning a win and tie against Concordia over the weekend (8-3 and 4-4) to run its current unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2). The LumberJacks now have a record of 6-11-2 overall, the best mark in program history since finishing 6-19-0 in 2000-01. Lastly, in the Northern Division, Marian University swept past Lake Forest by scores of 4-1 and 4-3. That, combined with the Vikings falling to the Raiders, opened up the lead in the division to a commanding six points for the Sabres.

EricMiller ConnorToomey 1011_ben-lauder
Left to right: Eric Miller (Adrian) ... Connor Toomey (MSOE) ... Ben Lauder (MSOE)

Players of the Week

-Adrian College Bulldogs senior forward Eric Miller (Erlanger, Ky.) is the MCHA Player of the Week for his offensive exploits against Finlandia over the weekend. The high-scoring left-winger netted two goals on Friday and wrapped up the weekend with a hat trick - including the game-winner - in Saturday's victory.

Other nominees: Chad Moore (Northland), Brendan Hull (Marian), Ben Lauder (MSOE)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders junior goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, Mass.) repeats as the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week, claiming the award for the league-high fifth time this season. The construction management major posted his national-best third shutout of the season Friday and saved 51 of 53 shots (.962 save %) on the weekend while recording a 1.00 GAA.

Other nominees: Quinn Waller (Adrian), Brady Vandenberk (Northland), Alex Bjerk (Marian)

-Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders freshman forward Ben Lauder (Fort McMurray, Alberta) is the MCHA Freshman of the Week. The mechanical engineering major had a power play goal and two assists on the weekend, finishing +2. The two assists were crucial, setting up the game-winners both nights.

Other nominees: Mike Lennon (Northland)

Adrian, Marian and Finlandia All Record Weekend Sweeps

Written by Chris Zills

Monday, November 16 2009

Just four games into the season and we know one thing … the Adrian Bulldogs are scoring goals at a high rate once again. Following a weekend sweep of Northland, the team now has 33 goals on the season, an average of 8.25 goals per game that leads NCAA Division III. It’s early, but the Bulldogs already have the No. 1 (Mike Dahlinger), No. 2 (tie, Brad Houston and Sam Kuzyk) and No. 6 scorer (Shawn Skelly) in the country and improved their win streaks to 39 in league games and 30 victories overall. They stayed at No. 5 in the new USCHO.com national poll released today.

Just one week after having three teams in the poll and/or receiving votes, the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association did it again, this time placing Adrian (#5), Marian (RV) and Lawrence (RV) in the poll a week after Adrian, MSOE and Lawrence pulled off the unprecedented feat.

In addition to AC winning a pair of games from Northland (13-3 and 7-3), Marian University also pulled of an important sweep, taking a home-and-home series from MSOE, wining 3-1 in Milwaukee Friday before taking a 4-3 victory at home in Fond du Lac Saturday. Finlandia also added a pair of wins, topping Concordia by scores of 5-3 and 6-2.

Lawrence moved to 3-0 in league play with a 4-3 victory over Lake Forest before falling, 6-2, Saturday to a UW-Superior team that was receiving votes last week and moved up to No. 15 this week.

Players of the Week


Mike Dahlinger	Brendan Hull	Alex Bjerk	Dakota Dubetz

-Adrian College Bulldogs junior forward Mike Dahlinger (Windsor, ONT) and Marian University Sabres junior forward Brendan Hull (Calgary, AB) share MCHA Player of the Week honors for their performances on the ice.

Dahlinger broke the MCHA record for assists in a game with six against Northland Friday (the former record of five was set three times). He also scored two goals during the game for eight points on the night – the second-highest one-game point total in league history. He then followed up with a goal and an assist in the 7-3 win Saturday for a 10 point (3G/7A) weekend.

Hull, a business major, had two goals - including the game winner - Friday in a 3-1 win over MSOE. He followed that game with a goal and assist in another close 4-3 win over the Raiders complete the sweep.
Other nominees: Charlie Benik (Finlandia)

-Marian University Sabres freshman goalie Alex Bjerk (Roseau, Minn.) earns the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week award for his play in the sweep of MSOE. The graphic design major stopped 62 of 66 shots for a .939 save percentage. In Friday’s 3-1 win, he stopped 34 of 35 Raider shots. He followed that up by stopping 28 of 31 shots on Saturday to complete the sweep.
-Other nominees: Quinn McIntosh (Finlandia)

-Marian University Sabres freshman forward Dakota Dubetz ( Chestermore , AB ) gives his team a near-sweep of the weekly awards by earning MCHA Freshman of the Week honors. The business administration major had a breakout weekend scoring his first NCAA career goal Friday. He followed that with two assists on Saturday. For the weekend, he had three points (1G/2A) and a +2 rating to help the Sabres to the sweep of two close games.
Other nominees: Nick Gorup (MSOE), Zach Graham ( Adrian )

Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association
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Waukesha, WI 53187-1536

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