{"id":133542,"date":"2022-03-17T21:53:37","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T02:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=133542"},"modified":"2022-03-18T22:37:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T03:37:35","slug":"adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Adrian’s Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Sam Ruffin has been waiting two years for the chance to play in the NCAA tournament. Photo provided by Adrian Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

His first year at Adrian after transferring in from Alaska ended with a tourney opportunity being taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

And last season there was no tournament because of the ongoing pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The wait is finally over.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin and the top-ranked Bulldogs begin their postseason run Saturday night against seventh-ranked Hobart (20-5-2) in the first NCAA Division III tournament since 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited. I\u2019ve never experienced the NCAA tournament,\u201d Ruffin said. \u201cI\u2019m ready for it, and hopefully we can succeed and keep it going.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, Adrian (28-1), winners of 28 consecutive games and the No. 1 team in the DCU\/USCHO NCAA Division III men\u2019s poll, was supposed to play Hobart in the opening round in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bulldogs are seeking their first national title. They were the runner-up in 2011 and have long been a regular contender for the crown.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, based on that, it was an easy decision for Ruffin to pick Adrian as his landing spot after appearing in 29 games with the Nanooks his freshman year. It also brought the Indiana native much closer to home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI talked with other schools, and coach (Adam) Krug reached out and i told him if I didn\u2019t go Division I, I wanted to come play for him,\u201d Ruffin said. \u201cI know the success of the program and I\u2019ve known coach a long time,\u00a0 \u201cIt was a good fit for me. I don\u2019t wish I was anywhere else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin made himself right at home at Adrian as he led the NCHA in assists (27) in his first season there. He also scored 10 goals, giving him 37 points, the fourth-most in the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin appeared in 20 games last year during a condensed and not-so normal season because of the pandemic. He tallied 10 goals and nine assists for the Bulldogs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin earned first-team all-conference honors this season, scoring 15 goals and dishing out 26 assists, playing a pivotal role in helping Adrian skate to another NCHA title.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe offensive side of the game has always been there for me, but I really feel I\u2019ve developed playing on the defensive side of the puck, and that\u2019s contributed to my success,\u201d Ruffin said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin is part of an Adrian team that features some of the top offensive threats in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alessio Luciani has scored 15 goals and tallied 29 assists to pace the Bulldogs. Ty Ens has come through with 20 goals and 20 assists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rex Moe and Matus Spodniak have also recorded more than 30 points on the season, with Moe tallying 16 goals and 18 assists and Spodniak racking up 15 goals and 19 assists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six other players have tallied 23 or more points.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of depth and that\u2019s shown throughout the season,\u201d Ruffin said. \u201cIf we keep playing the game that we have this season, we should be fine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin is more than a hockey player, though.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s also also set an example off the ice, getting involved in the St. Baldrick\u2019s Foundation, which is dedicated to finding a cure for pediatric cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI <\/span>got involved when I was younger playing youth hockey in Indiana,\u201d Ruffin said. \u201cMy whole team buzzed our heads to support kids and raise money to help find a cure for pediatric cancer. It\u2019s a great honor to be apart of this and helping the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for this weekend, Ruffin said he can\u2019t wait to take the ice as Adrian takes aim at a trip to the national semifinals in Lake Placid.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been chomping at the bit, and I think we\u2019ve stayed focused waiting for the opportunity to play in the tournament,\u201d Ruffin said. \u201cTo have the opportunity now, we have to go out play hard and play our game, and take advantage of the chances we get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in from Alaska ended with a tourney opportunity being taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic. And last season there was no tournament because of the ongoing pandemic. The wait is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":133543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[820],"coauthors":[821],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-18T02:53:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-19T03:37:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-18T02:53:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-19T03:37:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119\"},\"description\":\"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg\",\"width\":992,\"height\":1708},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Adrian’s Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119\",\"name\":\"Brian Lester\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/cd57736bbe952a9a60379f473b586277\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca4d2db0932dcb68f1d0442b744c42a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca4d2db0932dcb68f1d0442b744c42a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Lester\"},\"description\":\"Division III Columnist Brian Lester covers Western Division III conferences for USCHO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/author\/brianlester\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Adrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Adrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2022-03-18T02:53:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-19T03:37:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brian Lester","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Lester","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/","name":"Adrian's Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-18T02:53:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-19T03:37:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119"},"description":"Sam Ruffin has been waiting his entire college career for the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. His first year at Adrian after transferring in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/3522h-492-scaled-e1670884604455.jpg","width":992,"height":1708},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/17\/adrians-ruffin-ready-for-opportunity-to-play-in-ncaa-d-iii-hockey-tournament\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Adrian’s Ruffin ready for opportunity to play in NCAA D-III hockey tournament"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119","name":"Brian Lester","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/cd57736bbe952a9a60379f473b586277","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca4d2db0932dcb68f1d0442b744c42a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ca4d2db0932dcb68f1d0442b744c42a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Lester"},"description":"Division III Columnist Brian Lester covers Western Division III conferences for USCHO.","url":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/author\/brianlester\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133544,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133542\/revisions\/133544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133542"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=133542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}