Saint Louis, Missouri (3/17/24): After 11 days and 116 games, the final contest of the 2024 American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championships was played to determine the Women's Division 1 Champion
Women's Division 1 National Championship
Adrian College and Minot State University took to the ice in the culmination of 12 days of ACHA hockey in Saint Louis. Neither of the teams, ranking wise, were expected to be in the game, but their excellent play in upsetting both the #1 and #2 seeds in the semifinals yesterday provided their opportunity today. For the first half of the period, Minot State seemed to be the faster and more aggressive team, outshooting the Bulldogs 6-1. The ice started to tilt in Adrian's favor as the period wore on, with AC closing the shot gap to only be down for 7-6 at the break. Adrian also took the lead into the break, after a Macy Piche made a pass to Tess McKerrow, who feathered the return back to Piche for a backdoor tap in and a 1-0 lead. For Piche, it was her third goal of the tournament and seventh point of the week. The middle period was shades of the first 20 minutes. Both teams seem to have bursts of energy to push the pace and then slide back into a more defensive posture. The Beavers were able to get the game tied when Adrian took a hooking penalty at the 12:26 mark and Riley Ball lit the lamp for the Beavers, and the game was tied at 1-1. This seemed energize both teams for the last half of the period and both teams seemed ready to sit down and rest in the locker room for 15 minutes after the horn sounded. The final frame of regulation at the Nationals saw Adrian come out flying, taking the lead just 35 seconds into the period, from Tyla Turnbull's potting her third tally of the Nationals. The Bulldogs doubled the lead less than three minutes later when Piche got her second goal of the game to give Adrian the 3-1 lead. Minot was able to regroup and got the possession time more balanced. However, they could not get any offensive momentum, even when they got a power play halfway through the period. As the clock ticked under five minutes the Beavers called timeout and pulled their goalie. MSU was able to give several shots off the faceoff but could not get it past Chloe Burt. After that, Adrian got the puck out on the wing and Turnbull fired it from the red line into the wide-open cage her second of the period and all that was left was to watch the clock tick down to 0:00. It was a sea of yellow and black equipment in the air as Adrian rushed their goalie. For Minot State, who finish the season 23-12-1, back-to-back National Title appearances will stand as an amazing accomplishment for the program. Macy Piche received the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament, on the strength of her 3 goals and 4 assists include 3 points (2G, 1A) in the National Title game. For Adrian, who finish the season at 29-6-3, it is the first National Championship in Program History.
