The #17 AQ Saints traveled to Indiana Tech's home ice, SportONE Parkview Icehouse, for the men's hockey WHAC Tournament today (Feb. 18). The Saints, the #3 seed in the tournament, were matched up against the sixth-seeded Cleary Cougars for the quarterfinals matchup. The game went down to the wire with both teams trading goals. The two sides went to overtime with the score tied at 2-2. After early pressure from Cleary, Aquinas took control and eventually found the winner nine minutes into overtime. Darren Johnson slotted the puck into the back of the net to advance the Saints into the semifinals.

The Saints had a tough start to the game with an early penalty coming from Mason Stewart. Aquinas managed to kill off the penalty but quickly found themselves in a tight battle with the Cougars. Cleary would strike first, scoring the first goal of the game at 9:24 in the first period. The Cleary goal came promptly after the Cougars killed off a Saints powerplay. AQ would get another powerplay chance with 2:51 remaining in the period. Just 15 seconds later, Danny Barry would level the score with a rebound goal to the left of the goalie. Mike Curran and David Elford picked up the assists on the equalizing goal. The teams would enter the second period with the score tied at one with Aquinas slightly outshooting Cleary 12-11 in the period.

The second period would be a defensive battle between the two teams with both sides only putting eight shots on target. The powerplay would be the story of the game for the Saints, as Aquinas would get a couple more powerplay chances in the period. AQ would capitalize on the first powerplay chance they received in the period, taking a 2-1 lead eight minutes and 50 seconds into the period. Nick Stockert picked up the goal with Elford and Curran assisting another goal. Aquinas would get another penalty late in the period, along with four-on-four hockey shortly after that. However, neither team would score for the remainder of the period with the score still 2-1.

Aquinas peppered the net in the third period, outshooting Cleary 16-4. The Saints held possession of the puck for a majority of the period and had several close calls, including Nick Long placing a shot off the post. None of the Aquinas chances managed to find the back of the net. It would be a lone chance from Cleary late in the game that would finally fly past Michael Allman, tying the game at 2-2. The Saints would get a couple more chances late in regulation, but the third period ended with the score still tied. Overtime would determine the fate for the Saints in the tournament.

Overtime started with a ton of pressure from Cleary, as they nearly scored a couple of times. Thomas Davis stopped a one-on-one chance for the Cougars at 18:05 in the period, likely saving the game. Davis was put into the box for tripping, but the game would continue on. The Saints managed to kill off the powerplay for Cleary and survived the early scare. Aquinas would take control of possession and the slow and methodical play nearly paid off. Davis ripped a shot from the blue line six minutes into overtime and the game appeared to be over. However, the refs determined that the puck did not cross the goal line and the game continued on.

Two minutes later, Long had a one-on-one chance of his own and was taken out by the trailing Cleary defender, giving Aquinas yet another powerplay. This powerplay would be the last as Johnson would flick the puck into the net at 10:49 in the period. The goal was assisted by Brandon Schwandt and Allman. The goal ended the season for the Cleary Cougars and advanced the Saints into the semifinals of the tournament.

Allman started in net and saved 24 of 26 shots on net. His .923 save percentage improved his season record to 10-5 and helped Aquinas continue its tournament journey.

Aquinas will be back on the ice tomorrow (Feb. 19) with a matchup against #18 UM-Dearborn. The game is set to begin at 7:00 PM at the SportONE Parkview Icehouse. Aquinas and Dearborn each had a two-game sweep of the other this season. This game will function as the season tiebreaker between the sides as each team looks for a finals bid in the tournament.