LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The Adrian Bulldogs are the 2022 NCAA Division III men’s national champions after they defeated the Geneseo Ice Knights 5-2 on Saturday.
“I’m proud of this group,” Adrian coach Adam Krug said. “It’s been a long time coming. We went through a bit of a culture shift the past three years. We really understood what it took to get this program to the next step.”
If you give the Bulldogs an opportunity, they are the best in the country at taking advantage of it.
That major moment came almost five minutes into the game when Geneseo was called for a five-minute major for contact to the head. The initial call was no call, but upon review, Nicolas Elia was sent off the ice for a game misconduct.
“Initially it looked clean from the bench. I thought it was a good hit,” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said. “But the video review doesn’t lie. It set us back. You can’t put Adrian on the power play. They are going to capitalize.”
“It was a big hit,” Krug said. “Any time in the year 2022, a big hit typically looks like there could be something there. I thought it was a little bit high. We looked up to our eye in the sky, and he gave the thumbs up for a challenge. We made the call and it warranted a five-minute penalty.”
Three goals were scored on that penalty as the teams alternated power play and short-handed tallies, with Adrian taking a 2-1 lead when it was all over.
First, Adrian immediately received a minor penalty, so it took two minutes before it could enjoy the extra man. When it did, Sam Ruffin slapped a one-timer from the left dot.
Twenty seconds later, Geneseo took advantage of Adrian overcommitting four players in its defensive zone, leaving Matthew Doran wide open in the high slot. The puck was kicked out to him, and he wristed it in.
Adrian wasn’t fazed. It resumed the pressure, and Alessio Luciani stuffed home a rebound in the crease.
Geneseo never recovered from that chain of events.
Geneseo handed another opportunity to Adrian, and as usual, the Bulldogs took advantage of it increasing their lead to 3-1. The Ice Knights fell under intense forechecking pressure which forced a turnover. Mathew Rehding quickly passed it to the slot where Trevor Coykendall scored on a quick one-timer.
The second period saw Geneseo with the opportunities as it outshot Adrian 12-5.
“I think they gave us a lot of opportunities, too,” Schultz said. “They just did a better job at capitalizing. We played downhill quite a bit today. There were a lot minutes where they were back on their heels. Five-on-five, I think we played a heck of a hockey game.”
“Geneseo put us on our heels at times,” Krug agreed. “I was happy with our pushback. When you have a lead, they are going to keep coming.”
Geneseo did come out with a goal in the middle period to cut the lead to 3-2. Levi Wunder who only had one goal this season, skated into the zone on the left side and shot a simple wrist shot from the top of the circle which found its way in.
However, Geneseo did not take advantage of its powerful power play, being shut out in five opportunities.
“Our penalty kill was phenomenal,” Krug said. “Our guys did a great job shutting them down. We like to push down walls and get their guys to go to their backhands. We stayed in our lanes and tried to make sure we had good stick detail and beware of the middle guy, (Dan) Bosio tonight.”
Ryan Pitoscia put the dagger in, taking advantage of another opportunity Geneseo handed to Adrian on a silver platter. Goaltender Matt Petizian went behind the net and misplayed the puck. Trevor Coykendall stole it away, fed it to Pitoscia, who easily put it into the open net as Petizian could not scramble back in time.
Ruffin added an empty-net tally to finish the game off.
Geneseo ended its season at 24-4-1 with their best finish in a national tournament.
“I thought we played a pretty good hockey game,” Schultz said. “I’d like to see the outcome without that five minute (major). I think we gave the best team in the country a really good run.”
Adrian won the school’s first national championship in any sport and won its 31st consecutive game, finishing 31-1-0. Goaltender Cameron Gray finished with a perfect 22-0-0 record.
“This is something we’ve been working toward for four years,” senior captain Sam Ruffin said. “I’m so proud of his group. We push each other every day, and it came to fruition today.”
Krug said: “This one is a big one for our school, for our program, for our community, for our alums, for our athletic director.”
