IU hockey loses out on national title hopes

The IU club hockey team ended its run for the team's first-ever national championship with a 3-2 loss to host Oakland University Friday night. The team finished 1-2 in a round-robin tournament in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Div. II National Championship in Rochester, Mich. last weekend, failing to qualify for the semifinals round.\nThe team started the tournament with an 11-6 loss to Utah State in the first game but bounced back with an 8-7 win over Siena, winning on a Peter Johnson goal 7:27 into overtime. Junior forward Reed Schafer said the first two games were much different than the third game, which was against Oakland.\n"We were able to score a lot of goals in the first two games," he said. "But the power play really didn't have a lot of chances to capitalize (in the Oakland game). I think we relied on our offense a lot this last year."\nSchafer said he felt the high scores in the Utah State and Siena were not typical for the IU team.\n"In our first two games we weren't as committed to defense as we normally have been," he said.\nThe loss to Oakland ended a season that saw the Hoosiers finish with a regular season record of 21-8-2, including a 12-2 run to enter Nationals and earn a No. 1 seed in the southeast region.\nThe ACHA Div. II nationals were divided into sections and decided by round-robin elimination. Oakland won IU's section and eventually lost in the national championship to Michigan State.\nEven though the team didn't reach its goal of winning nationals, it still was able to take away some positives from the season.\n"I think everyone was pretty happy with how we did throughout the season," said Schafer, who had three assists in the tournament, all in the Utah State game. "I think we peaked a couple weeks too early in terms of how we did second semester. Things didn't go our way in nationals starting with the first game, but I'm happy with the progress we made throughout the season. We meshed really well."\nFreshman forward Dan Karlander agreed.\n"We obviously didn't accomplish what we wanted to in the tournament, but overall (the season) was defiantly a success," he said.\nBecause of the team's youth, the team feels it will be able to build up its experience from the tournament this year and use it in years to come.\n"Experience is a big factor," Karlander said. "There were not too many people who were playing (in nationals) for their first time, but we have a lot of people coming back."\nSchafer said the fact that much of the team's core will be kept intact is important in the team improving on its performance for next year.\n"We're going to put our team together for next year," he said. "It looks like it's going to be the same type of team, with a few changes in terms of guys leaving the team and the possibility of getting some new guys. It's very positive for our progress towards next year and it lets us know we have a good chance (of going to nationals) next year, and not doing the same thing we did this year."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Wustrow at jwustrow@indiana.edu.