Regional Weekend

Regional weekend was a great end to the season with some great competition and very close games. All the teams came ready to play making some of the closest games we have seen all year.

In the Western Michigan vs. Purdue game the first goal was scored in the first minute by team captain Bill Scalise at 11:01 for Purdue. Western was the next to score with a power play goal by Eric Reinhardt at 6:50. Then with less then a minute to go in the first period Western would take the lead at 56 seconds with a goal by Angelo Barduca. With only 21 seconds in the first period Derek Spaulding would tie the game back up with a Purdue goal. Much of the second period was about the goalies Western Michiganâ??s Steve Stork took 18 shots in the second period and Purdueâ??s Matt Riba would take 13 shots. Neither team scored until the second half of the second period when at 6:31 Angelo Barduca scored for Western. At 3:47 Eric Reinhardt would score another goal for Western putting them ahead by two. Purdue would then score a short handed goal at 2:39 by Eric Fujikawa which Eric Reinhardt would answer at 1:23 by scoring his third goal of the game for Western. With little over a minute left in the second period Purdue would put another point up on the clock when at 1:10 Derek Spaulding would score another goal. The third period started with Purdue down by one goal but in less then thirty seconds the game became tied when Bill Scalise scored for Purdue. The rest of the third period was back and forth shots without any goals scored taking the teams in to over time where after 2 minutes Eric Reinhardt would score his fourth and the game winning goal for Western.

 

The Ohio State vs. Michigan game was another very close game. Michigan started off the scoring late in the first period with a goal by Brandon Johns at 5:07. The rest of the first period would include a back and forth shot for shot game with both teams unable to score. In the second period both goalies, Michiganâ??s Adam Goldbreg and Ohio Stateâ??s Matthew Smith would take nine shots on goal neither letting any goals in. In the third period it was Ohio Stateâ??s Dan Cece who would tie the game with a short handed goal for Ohio State at 3:36 which would put the game in to overtime. The quick break gave both teams time to rest and within one minute of overtime the game was over with a Michigan goal by Scott Janowaik to win the game.

 

            The game for the B division auto bid proved how much talent the MCRHL has. Michigan State and Michigan battled it out for the automatic bid in a fast paced game starting with a goal at 10:47 for State by Bryan Beck. Nick Jordan would tie the game scoring at 8:14 for Michigan. Followed by two quick goals for State the first scored by Eric Bynes at 5:58 and the second by Bryan Beck at 5:01. Michigan would tie the game up quickly in the second with a goal at 11:24 by Derrick Boroski. State would then pull ahead by two after goals from Andrew Schollenberger at 5:17 and Eric Walby at 3:56. Michigan answered with a scoring streak scoring three goals within a minute and a half. Nick Jordan started the minute off at 3:32 then Derrick Boroski at 2:14 followed by Eric Drucker at 2:08 putting Michigan ahead by one going in to the third period. In the third period both teams would put a lot of shots on goal but it was not till 6:26 that Ryan Shaul would tie the game up again with a State goal. With 1:09 left on the clock Eric Drucker would score again putting Michigan ahead but with only 5 seconds to go Andrew Schollenberger would score for State taking the game in to over time. Only one shot was taken in over time which resulted in the game winning goal for Michigan by Chris Rae twenty five seconds in to over time.  

 

The A division auto bid game was a rematch from last year with Eastern and Michigan State playing for the title. Michigan Stateâ??s captain Eric Lubanski was the first to score at 4:29 in the first. Before the first period was over Easternâ??s Michael Stewart would score at 2:23 to end the first period with a tie game. In the second period only one goal was scored by Michigan Stateâ??s Mike Fenkell on the power play at 6:58. In the third period Eastern would score twice in a row. The first goal was scored at 7:28 by Steve Kolis and the second not until 2:22 by Vinny Jalaba. Then with little over a minute left Evan Pmoish would tie the game for State sending the game in to overtime. The game winning goal was scored by Eastern Michiganâ??s Marco Trevino making it the fourth year in a row that Eastern would win the auto bid to Nationals.

 

This year the winner of the Regional tournament was again a developmental team. Grand Valley State won last year and this year it was OCC who won the Midwest Cup. Congratulations to both Michigan (B) and Eastern for winning the auto bids to the National Tournament. The other bids will be given out this week, good luck to all the teams that end up at St. Louis.