Give a dog a bone, and he may not give it back.
Give a bulldog a bone, and he’ll chew it to smithereens and spit out the remains.
Give the Adrian Bulldogs a bone, and they will end your season.
Adrian’s mode of operation in the playoffs, whether NCHA or NCAA, has been to score in bunches in a short burst.
For the NCAA Division III men’s semifinal game Friday night at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., Adrian only needed two goals for the bunch and 1:26 for the burst. This enabled the Bulldogs to defeat Augsburg 5-1 as two empty-net short-handed goals finished off the Auggies.
“Augsburg likes to slow the pace down,” Adrian coach Adam Krug said. “They even used a trap for a short period of time. We got those two scores in the first period which made the difference.”
“Hats off to Adrian,” added Augsburg coach Greg May. “Tough to spot them a 2-0 lead and then try to chase.”
Despite outshooting Augsburg 13-4 in the first period, it took till the 17:07 mark to begin the burst. Sam Ruffin, after skating away from the net, turned a shot it from the top of the left circle. It eluded Samuel Vyletelka, who may have been partially screened.
“It always starts by skating with hard work,” Ruffin explained. “Then we like to go to the low play. I got the puck back out to me and then I shot it to the net.”
Trevor Coykendall made it 2-0 in short order. This one came from the right circle. Once again, it appeared the goalie was partially screened.
“Tough to say. I may have had men in front,” a disappointed Vyletelka said. “On the first goal, the defender was skating in front. On the second, there was also a defender who was skating across.”
Though there was no scoring in the second period, Adrian came the closest. Just as they killed off a penalty, they had multiple chances in front of the Auggies net, but Vyletelka came up big.
Augsburg came on strong in the final period, using the inspiration from the time they played Adrian earlier in the season. In that game, Adrian took a 3-0 lead before Augsburg scored twice.
“We didn’t change much,” May said of today’s game. “We were just trying to stick with our game plan. We remembered what we did last time against them.”
Krug added, “We knew there was going to be a push from them. We stood tall.”
The push came when Augsburg checked Adrian off the puck at center ice. The resultant turnover propelled Austin Dollimer on a semi-breakaway down the right side. At the dot, he fired it into the opposite side to cut the lead to 2-1.
A few other odd man rushes and prolonged pressure in the zone gave Augsburg hope, but Cameron Gray was up to the task in the Adrian net. In total, he made 20 saves.
After Adrian weathered the storm, Zach Goberis restored the two-goal lead. Left unattended, he slapped it right down the middle from above the circles.
“I give credit to my teammates,” Goberis said.
Augsburg went on the power play with 2:42 remaining. They called a time out, but when they came out, they did not pull their goalie at that time.
“I have a lot of faith in my team,” May said. “I asked them, ‘Do you want to just go on the power play or pull the goalie now?’ They said they wanted to stick with the power play, which is very strong for us.”
When that didn’t create a goal immediately, Vyletelka was pulled. That was when Adrian scored their two empty netters. The first from their own zone; the second from their own end line.
Augsburg’s season ends at 25-4-0.
Adrian will play for the school’s first national championship tomorrow night against the winner of the Geneseo-University of New England game.
The Bulldogs often play eastern teams more so compared to their western counterparts.
“We do have some familiarity with the eastern style of play,” Krug said. “We’ve played Geneseo before, so I know Chris Schultz’s style of coaching. We haven’t played UNE, but I know their coach is very good.”
Adrian lost the first game of the season. Since then, the Bulldogs have won 30 in a row. Whichever eastern team plays Adrian, it’s highly suggested they don’t give the Bulldogs a bone.
Otherwise, it will be 31 wins in a row and a national championship for the Michigan school.
