The ESCHL was well represented in the ACHA national tournament this year. Rhode Island and Stony Brook got in, Stony Brook as the 5th seed and Rhode Island as the 12th seed. ESCHL champion Stony Brook would reach the national title game, but come up short against #2 University of Central Oklahoma.
The first game Stony Brook played was against fellow ESCHL member Rhode Island. The game against Rhode Island’s physical defense was a nail bitter. Stony Brook would get the only goal of the game to win 1-0, with Stony Brook goalie Brendan Jones picking up the shutout. The ESCHL champions would then face #4 Robert Morris. The game was high scoring, unlike the Rhode Island game, however result was the same, as Stony Brook won 5-4.
The Seawolves would have their work cut out for them in the semifinals. They faced #1 Arizona State, who were the favorites to win the tournament. Seawolves goalie Brendan Jones was able to have another fantastic game, only letting in one Arizona State goal even though the Sun Devils possessed one of the most explosive offenses in the ACHA. He played in three of the Seawolves games in the ACHA tournament, while only letting in 5 goals. Stony Brook would prevail against the tournament favorites 2-1.
Stony Brook then had the challenge of facing #2 Central Oklahoma a day after narrowly beating #1 Arizona State. The game was hard fought, but the obvious wear and tear of playing against the two top ranked teams in back to back days took its toll on Stony Brook. Stony Brook struggled to get the puck in the net, and came up short with a score of 4-0.
Stony Brook’s magnificent run shows how strong of a conference the ESCHL is. They finished ranked 2nd in the ACHA, and were competitive in the national title game. Your Blue Hens also took Stony Brook to overtime in the ESCHL playoffs, which goes to show how competitive the Blue Hens could’ve been if they were a part of the ACHA tournament.
As always stayed tuned to www.udelhockey.com for updates throughout the offseason as we begin to prepare for the 2015-2016 season.
By: Tyler Fitzpatrick
