IU team rides 10-game win streak into postseason play

The IU Hockey team will leave icy Bloomington’s for the warmth of Florida this spring break. But unlike most college students headed south, it will be all business when the \nplayers arrive. \nThe team is riding a 10-game winning streak into the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II National Championships in Fort Myers, Fla. IU secured a No. 3 seed in the Southeast Region after defeating its two regional opponents. \nBefore the team shifts its focus to nationals, however, it must first prepare for this weekend’s Great Midwest Hockey League Tournament playoffs. IU enters its conference tournament as the No. 6 seed and faces Miami of Ohio, a team that was awarded the No. 3 seed following strong league play. Miami tied IU in Bloomington 4-4 on Dec. 7 and defeated the the team at home, 8-4, during the regular season. \n“We’re approaching this game just like any other,” sophomore Adam Logue said. “We don’t want to take a game off and get out of our 10-game win streak. Keep the streak to 11, that’s our goal.”\nIU stretched its winning streak to 10 following regionals, which ran from Feb. 22 to 23. The IU team faced two unfamiliar foes, the first opponent, out of northern Georgia, was Kennesaw State.\nSenior forward Dan Karlander emphasized after the last regular season game that the team “couldn’t overlook them.” \nIt didn’t. Heading into the third period, IU was down 3-2. The resilient IU defense held off Kennesaw State’s offensive attack until a shot with 21 seconds left scorched the net in the back of IU’s goal.\nOvertime would follow, and it would take 17 minutes out of the allotted 20 for the game to be decided. With three minutes remaining, Logue dished the puck to freshman KC Madock, who netted the winning goal in sudden death, giving IU a 4-3 win. \n“We lost some momentum with them scoring at the end of regulation, but it was great to see us respond well,” sophomore Joe Fornari said. “No one got down, and we got right back to it.”\nIn the second game, IU faced another unknown opponent – the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The team fell victim to early penalty trouble, but IU proved to be too much thanks to five unassisted goals by Karlander, Fornari, Madock, Chris Bartholomew and Brad Kirchner. The Hoosiers won 5-2. \n“We started off with some early penalties, but other than that we were fine,” Logue said. “We came to play, and they couldn’t hang with us. We got it done.” \nThe two victories put the Hoosiers in a position they didn’t reach last year after a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State in the \nregional championship. \n“It was good for us to bounce back from that,” Logue said. “We got a big win and we’re heading to Fort Myers.”