From Adrian College Athletics
By Tyler Fyfe
HAMMOND, Ind. — The No. 6 Adrian College Men’s ACHA Division 1 hockey team made history last night, becoming the first ever Regular Season Champions of the Great Lakes Six (GL6) Hockey Conference. The Bulldogs captured a sweep of No. 18 Purdue University Northwest yesterday, defeating the Pride 3-0 and 5-2 to remain undefeated in conference play and clinch the 2024-25 regular season crown.
Not only was Saturday’s win a historical mark in GL6 history, it was also an extension of pure excellence for Adrian College, as the Bulldogs claimed their ninth straight conference regular season championship, dating all the way back to 2017 in the GLCHL days. Head Coach, Gary Astalos, who has been at the helm of all nine of those championships, mentioned how important this achievement was for his team and that there’s still plenty of road to cover this season.
“It’s a great moment for our program, to be able to be the first ever GL6 Regular Season Champions”, Astalos stated. “This is just the first stop in our long journey towards the end goal of another National Championship. I’m extremely proud of our guys for the efforts they’ve showed this season, but there’s still a ton of work left to do with two important conference games remaining in the regular season before we host the GL6 Playoff Tournament at the end of the month.”
This week’s action began on the usual Thursday night at the Arrington Ice Arena, with the Pride and Bulldogs facing off for the first time since last year’s GLCHL Playoff Championship game; one that the Bulldogs were aiming to redeem them themselves for this time around. After a scoreless first two periods of action, the Bulldogs came out flying in the final frame, putting the Pride on their heels and tallying three goals to seal a dominant victory. Dylan Gajewski opened the scoring off a beautiful one-timer on the power-play from Griffin Zaske and Sebastian Smith. Just a few moments later, a heavy Adrian forecheck saw Hunter Allen and Matteo Turrin capitalize on a PNW turnover, setting up Cash Regan for an insurance goal.
As play went on, the Bulldogs continued to press and hold the Pride to nothing offensively, before Gajewski ripped home his second of the game on a 2-on-1 play from Alex Schaumburger and David Dell to give the home team a 3-0 cushion. That was all she wrote, as Adrian grabbed the win with the help of Noah Decottignies’ 29-save shutout performance.
The Bulldogs traveled to Hammond, Indiana on Saturday to close the series and with hopes of clinching that desired GL6 Regular Season Championship. After a strong performance on Thursday, the Bulldogs followed it up with another stellar showing, firing on all cylinders right off the hop. Heavy pressure and a delayed PNW penalty call saw the Bulldogs’ Regan convert with a man-up just over midway through the first period to open the scoring for Adrian. After nothing else in the first period, the Bulldogs opened period two with a power-play tally after drawing a call late in the first period. Keegan DeCaluwe buried home a rebound for his tenth of the season to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
The Pride would answer back shortly after with their first goal of the week, but it was Turrin who muscled home a rebound chance to give the Bulldogs a two-goal lead with about seven minutes to play in the middle frame. Just less than a minute later, the Pride converted on a power-play chance, but Justin Jamer and Matthew DiCesare connected on a beautiful rush, with Jamer burying home his eleventh of the year to give Adrian the 4-2 lead after two periods of play. Sebastian Smith added his 18th of the year in the final stanza, off a Pride turnover, and that was it as the Bulldogs clinched a 5-2 win and remain undefeated in GL6 play. Decottignies stopped 30 pucks in his tenth victory of the season.
The MD1 Bulldogs will take on conference foe, No. 24 Grand Valley State University, in the final two games of the regular season next week. The Bulldogs will host the Lakers on Thursday, February 20 at the AIA, before heading to Hudsonville on Friday, February 21. Both games are at 7:30 PM.
After the conclusion of the regular season, the Bulldogs will get set to host the first ever GL6 Playoff Tournament at the Arrington Ice Arena on February 27-28.
(Originally published at https://adrianbulldogs.com/news/2025/2/16/mens-acha-division-1-ice-hockey-mens-acha-d1-hockey-clinch-first-ever-gl6-regular-season-title-with-sweep-over-purdue-northwest.aspx)
