For the second day in a row, the Aquinas men's hockey team went to overtime in the WHAC Tournament. After winning the WHAC semifinals on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 20) in a 3-2 overtime thriller, the Saints fell in the WHAC Championship game on Sunday (Mar. 21) to Indiana Tech by a 2-1 final score.
Sunday's game in Fort Wayne was a match-up of the top two seeds in the conference: #1 Indiana Tech and #2 Aquinas. The teams played on Feb. 26-27 in a home-and-home series, with each team winning on its home ice. All three games between the schools were decided by one goal and Indiana Tech won both meetings in Fort Wayne by identical 2-1 scores.
The Warriors improve to 15-6 on the season, while Aquinas drops to 8-7. Both teams will soon learn of their ACHA National Tournament fate.
While AQ defeated Concordia 3-2 in overtime in Saturday's semifinals on a
Darren Johnson goal, Indiana Tech had little trouble in the other semifinal, beating Cleary 8-0. Sunday's championship game was more like Aquinas' semifinal game, as there was no score after the opening 20 minutes of play.
Indiana Tech got on the scoreboard first with a second period goal from Joel Holmberg at the 17:52 mark, just a few minutes before the second intermission. The score would remain 1-0 heading into the third period.
Six minutes into the frame, Aquinas tied the game at 1-1, as
Eric Budd netted the tying goal.
Daniel Nelson and
Augustus Hickle earned the assist at the 6:02 mark. Both teams had chances to score the go-ahead goal, including Indiana Tech's two opportunities in the final four seconds of the period, both of which were turned away by AQ goalie
Nick Ottenbacher.
The Warriors would net the game-winner at the 3:32 mark of the overtime period, as Matej Krasny scored the power play goal to clinch the conference title for Indiana Tech on its home ice.
Indiana Tech held a 33-20 advantage in shots, as Ottenbacher made 31 saves on the day, including 12 in a busy second period.
Brandon Rozema tallied five shots and
Nick Long added four shot attempts in the loss.
Winners of five of their last six games, the Saints hope to earn a return trip to the ACHA National Tournament, having also done so in the 2018-19 season, when they competed in three games in Frisco, Texas. AQ also qualified for the 2019-20 ACHA National Tournament, but it was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.
