Central Oklahoma Wins First ACHA National Title

For three straight seasons, the Central Oklahoma hockey season ended in heartbreak.

In 2012, 2013 and 2014, the Broncos exited the ACHA Division I tournament in the quarterfinal round. But this year belonged to the Broncos, who last week capped off a 33-5-1 season with their first Division I national title at the ACHA National Championships in Ohio.

Central Oklahoma beat Stony Brook 4-0 in the championship game.

“I truly believe we had the right mixture of players, and our team chemistry carried us through and helped us achieve our ultimate goal,” Central Oklahoma coach Craig McAlister said. “Our guys depended on each other all year long, which allowed us to get the No. 2 seed, and we played so well as a team throughout the tournament.

“Our seniors led us to the national tournament in all four years they were here. All six of them led by example, and our experience mattered a lot. We had a lot of young guys that played for us this year, and our seniors showed them how to go about it and it paid off.”

Tory Caldwell made 19 saves to earn the shutout in the title game. The game-winning goal was credited to Ryan Duley, who opened the scoring at the 6:09 mark of the second period. Josh Wyatt would go on to score a pair of goals for the Broncos, including tacking on an empty-netter, while Michael Rivera also provided insurance.

Rivera was named tournament MVP.

Central Oklahoma won all four games over the five-day tournament, first beating Niagara (4-1) and then tackling Iowa State (5-2) and Minot State (5-1) and finally the championship-clinching victory.

Entering the tournament, there was no question as to who was the favorite.

The Arizona State Sun Devils were the top-ranked team in the country heading to Ohio. Their roster was splattered with elite talent, as ASU makes the transition into an NCAA Division I program next season, and it picked up some transfers over the course of this past season.

But in its last quest for an ACHA national title, the Sun Devils fell short in the semifinals 2-1 to Stony Brook.

“It’s hard. I mean you want to leave out on top,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. “We played like a team with two seniors on it and they played like a team with 11. The reality, and it’s a really harsh, harsh and tough reality, is that when we leave that room, we’ll never be in a room together again. It’s sad because we have a hell of a team.

“They were the better team today.”

Liberty Wins Division I Women’s Crown

Liberty (31-4-1) captured its first ACHA crown when it went undefeated in the ACHA Division I women’s tournament (including the round robin) and beat Miami (Ohio) in the final, 4-1.

“Absolutely amazing,” Liberty coach Paul Bloomfield said. “We just worked so hard, we’ve come so close. It’s just awesome. The girls were awesome today. If we can do this again, it would be great. It’s worth it all.”

Added Liberty senior Sarah Stevenson, “We were just on them. We didn’t give them the time to set up and get ready to block us. We came out flying and they couldn’t handle our speed. We put it in the net early and they just couldn’t come back after we got ahead of them.”

Michigan State Tops Florida Gulf Coast for Division III Crown
Michigan State barely snuck by Bryn-Athyn in an overtime thriller in the semifinals before winning the ACHA Division III men’s national title 6-2 over Florida Gulf Coast last week.

After Michigan State went up 2-0 in the first period, FGCU struck twice in the second period to even the score 2-2 with goals just four minutes apart.

However, with only 15 seconds remaining in the second period, the Spartans took the lead again, this time for good, when Jayson Lottes put his team back on top. The Spartans added three more goals in the third period to seal the title.

It’s the first Division III national title for the Spartans.

North Dakota State Women Win Division II
In the Division II bracket, North Dakota State (26-3) took home the national title, thrashing West Chester 8-1 in the title game.

Over the course of the entire tournament, North Dakota State out-scored its opponents by a whopping margin of 28 goals (30-2) over five games.

The men’s Division II tournament is this weekend in Salt Lake City.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.