From Indiana Tech Athletics
By Jack Koshko
DEARBORN, Mich. – Over the weekend, the Indiana Tech men’s hockey team was in Dearborn, Michigan for the WHAC Tournament. On Sunday afternoon, the Warriors would capture the trophy, making it the third time in the last four years that they’ve been crowned tournament champions! Indiana Tech completes the WHAC double, winning both the regular season and tournament trophies, and earns an automatic berth to the ACHA National Championship Tournament.
The Warriors would enter the tournament as the #1 seed, earning them a first round bye as the remaining six teams competed. In the first round, #5 seed Concordia University would take down Aquinas College 4-1, #2 Lawrence Tech University would beat #7 Rochester 9-1, and #3 University of Michigan-Dearborn would defeat #6 Cleary University 5-3. Saturday’s semifinal games would both come down to the wire as Tech would take down Concordia 3-2 in overtime and Lawrence Tech would defeat UM-Dearborn 1-0 in overtime. Sunday’s championship match between Indiana Tech and Lawrence Tech would see the Warriors take the WHAC Tournament crown with a 4-2 victory!
In the semifinal game, Concordia would start the game off with a shorthanded goal just under seven minutes into the game. The Warriors would answer back near the end of the period on the powerplay with a goal from Colton Nikiforuk, assisted by Joey Mocnik. The Cardinals would again take the lead in the second period with a powerplay goal. Five minutes later, Indiana Tech would tie the score at two with a goal from Michael Dalaly, assisted by Mocnik and Wil Campbell. For the remaining 33:17 left of regulation, the score would remain knotted at two. In the overtime period, Joey Mocnik would be the hero for the Warriors, scoring the game winner just under eight minutes into overtime and sending the Warriors to the championship game. Ty Barnhill would make 32 saves in the 3-2 overtime win for the Warriors.
On Sunday, the Warriors would face off with Lawrence Tech for the WHAC Tournament title. The Warriors would again surrender an early lead, as they trailed 1-0 after just 83 seconds. However, the Warriors would show their resilience like they have all season, fighting back with two first period goals courtesy of Pavel Svoboda and Connor Funke to take a 2-1 lead into the second. Again, the Warriors would win the period 2-1 with a powerplay goal from Wil Campbell, assisted by Francesco Santaniello and Alex Arnold, and late goal from Michael Dalaly, assisted by Campbell. The Orange & Black would hold their 4-2 lead heading into the final period of play and would not let it waver, shutting down the Blue Devils in every attempt. Ty Barnhill would make 25 saves in the game for Tech, with eight big ones in the third period, as the Warriors would go on to win the game and the tournament!
The Warriors move to 25-11-0 overall on the season and will play one final game before the ACHA National Championship Tournament. Tech will host #2 Adrian College on Friday, February 23rd at 2:30pm in the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse before heading to St. Louis, Missouri for the national tournament on March 7th-12th.
(Originally published at https://indianatechwarriors.com/news/2024/2/18/mens-ice-hockey-warriors-capture-whac-tournament-championship-again.aspx)
