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Minot State and Lindenwood Showdown for ACHA National Title
03/06/2013, 7:00pm MST
By Brian Moran
Lindenwood dispatched the nation's top two teams on their way to a showdown with #3 Minot State. Meanwhile, the Beavers have played stellar defense on their way to their first ever National Title berth.
After a one-year absence, Lindenwood is returning to the National Championship to face Minot State for the 2013 title.
This will be Minot’s first appearance in the National Championship game and the fifth appearance for Lindenwood. The Lions have participated in four of the last five National Title games with 2012 being the only exception – Lindenwood played in four straight from 2008-2011.
Lindenwood reached the final on the strength of two impressive upsets of the nation’s top two ranked teams. After edging Davenport in the first round, the Lions posted impressive wins over #1 Adrian in the quarterfinals and #2 Arizona State in the semifinals.
The Lions enter tonight’s showdown fresh off a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Arizona State that saw the teams trade massive shots the entire game.
After ASU opened the scoring, Lindenwood answered back with four-straight tallies in the final 11:37 of the first period. Entering the first intermission with a three-goal lead, the Lions fell back to even terms as Arizona State went on a scoring flurry of their own in the second period.
However, Grant Gorczyca picked up his third goal of the tournament just 32 seconds into the third period and that tally would go down as the game winner. The Sun Devils were never in a situation to mount a comeback as they had a total of 21 minutes in penalties in the third. Stephen Bopp added some extra insurance for Lindenwood as they would get by the Sun Devils 6-4.
Gorczyca is one of three Lions with three goals in the tournament. Along with Steve Brancheau and Jeremy Meletti, the trio has amassed three goals and a pair of assists each heading into tonight’s championship. Taylor Wolfe has been a dangerous playmaker, picking up five assists along the way.
Where Lindenwood may hold the advantage tonight is in goal. Linus Ahgren’s 3.33 goals against average isn’t sterling, but his play between the pipes has been just that. While the players in front of Ahrgen have averaged over five goals per game, he’s been called upon to keep the Lions in each game through the tournament. Ahgren has faced 41, 45 and 46 shots through his first three games and has allowed no more than four goals in each of those games. Overall he has seen 132 shots and turned aside 122 of them. If the Lions hope to continue their fire wagon scoring, Ahgren will need to be counted on.
His counterpart, Wyatt Waselenchuk hasn’t been as busy but has been equally impressive.
A year after Delaware’s SJ Broadt showed how important a hot goalie can be, both Waselenchuk and Ahgren are proving their worth in the crease. While Waselenchuk has only seen 86 shots compared to the shooting gallery Ahgren has endured, he has only been beaten five times over the course of Minot’s first three games.
In addition to his 26-save shutout against Central Oklahoma, Waselenchuk held Ohio’s potent attack to just one goal on 27 attempts last night in the semifinals. His busiest night was in Minot’s OT victory over Oklahoma in which he turned aside 29 shots and helped carry his team to a thrilling OT win.
The Beavers have also had little trouble finding the net, scoring five times in all three games thus far. Cam McGeough and Brad Lamb have been the two most dangerous scorers – with three and four goals, respectively and they’ve both benefitted from Jared McIntosh’s six assists.
McIntosh has yet to score a goal of his own, but has factored on 40 percent of Minot’s goals in the tournament and Lindenwood will need to make sure to keep McIntosh, McGeough and Lamb in check if they hope to walk away with the title. If they can do that, the Lions will have successfully dispatched the nation’s top three teams on their way to a title.
The key for Minot will to be to continue with their steady style of play and limit the chances for Lindenwood. If they can maintain that style, they’re certainly have opportunities on the counter-attack and will hopefully find a way to crack Ahgren early and often.
