Grand Rapids, Mich. — The Aquinas men's hockey team took part in the Grand Rapids Hall of Fame Tournament this past weekend (Dec. 8th & 9th). Aquinas dropped their first game against Calvin, placing them in the third place consolation match against Davenport. The Saints went on to defeat the Panthers 5-3.
5-0 Loss to Calvin
The Saints traveled cross town to take on the neighboring Calvin Knights. This was the third meeting between the two teams this season. Calvin managed to defeat AQ in both previous meetings. The Knights are a formidable opponent but the Saints had hopes of topping the crosstown foe for the first time this season.
AQ managed to hold the Knights back, but soon enough the Knights had the battering ram at the gates and struck first with 6:13 minutes remaining in the first period. Just close to three minutes later the Knights would find the net once more. As the first period of play came to an end, the Knights were up 2-0.
Following in the second, both teams battled back and forth and skated to and fro. But neither team managed to pierce the net.
The neighboring teams entered the third period at 2-0. Aquinas new this was their last chance to top the Knights and to stay in the race in the Grand Rapids Hall of Fame Tournament. But Calvin went on to light their torches and tally three more points in the remaining period, finalizing the game at 5-0.
Overall the Saints had 25 shots while Calvin had 47.
This loss placed AQ to take on Davenport the following evening (Dec. 9)
4-3 Win over Davenport
The Saints returned to the Eagle Ice Center to take on Davenport, the night previous AQ fell to Calvin while Davenport fell to GVSU. Both teams were looking to take home a victory, leading them into third place for the tournament.
Similar to the previous evening there would be no scoring till the last quarter of the first period. Davenport went on to strike twice in the final five minutes of the period. Once again putting the Saints in a 2-0 deficit.
But the Saints came into the second period like they were all wearing a new sets of skates. Aquinas went on to put up three goals in just over a four minute span.
Brandon Rozema struck first for the Saints with assists from
Christian Look and
Brendan McCatty. Next,
Austin Gilmore caught and capitalized on a chance from
Mitchell Hoon. And
Nicola Vogel settled the hot streak with assists from
Xavier Erickson and
Ryan Kleber.
As the buzzer sounded and the teams skated to their respective locker rooms, the Saints had answered both goals and added one on top of the Panthers.
The third period was similar to the first as both teams battled it out. AQ looked to maintain and distance their lead while, Davenport was looking to equalize. But the Saints would go the distance and push the difference as
Christian Look collected a pass from
Dylan Rumpke and managed to find the back of the net with just 6:07 remaining. AQ found themselves up 4-2 with less than six minutes to go.
But Davenport still had a fight in them and tallied in another score for themselves with 3:37 left on the clock. The Saints played smart and defensive in the final minutes. As the final buzzer sounded the Saints had claimed victory and third place in the Grand Rapids Hall of Fame Tournament.
In total the Saints faced 27 shots, while Davenport faced 25.
The boys are back in action Friday (Jan. 4) at 7:40 p.m. with #13 UM-Dearborn at the Southside Ice Arena.
