Indiana club hockey ended its regular season with a sweep against Bradley University on Feb. 2-3. The club played Feb. 2 inside Frank Southern Ice Arena and in Perry Park in Indianapolis Feb. 3. The club’s record stands at 25-5 with a No. 3 regional ranking, the most wins the club has ever taken in the regular season.
Senior Night took place Feb. 2 with the Hoosiers wearing pink in support of breast cancer awareness. The club teamed up with Zeta Tau Alpha to raise money for the American Cancer Society by selling merchandise.
The Hoosiers honored senior goaltenders Sammy Bilis, Nathan Chinni and Brendan McCaskey before the puck drop. Senior defenseman Matthew McKay was not present.
The first period of the Feb. 2 game was scoreless, and the score remained 0-0 well into the second period. Freshman winger Ben Rosenberg scored the first goal of the night with seven minutes left in the second frame, sparking a shift in momentum for the Hoosiers.
Freshman forward Jake Rock scored on a rebound with three minutes left in the period and the second frame ended 2-0.
Junior forward Ithan DeLorenzo scored the first goal of the final period with 16 minutes left in the game. Sophomore defenseman Ray Meiers bounced the puck off a Bradley defender to make the score 4-0. DeLorenzo secured his brace immediately after.
Bilis kept a clean sheet up until the last eight minutes of the game when Bradley senior forward Tommy Davis scored the team’s only goal of the night. Junior forward Drew Micheli retaliated shortly after to bring back the Hoosiers’ five-goal lead. The final score was 6-1.
At the Feb. 3 game, Rosenberg scored the first goal of the game for the second time, giving the Hoosiers an early lead. Bradley answered with a goal from senior forward Zach Pearce.
In the second period, Braves junior forward Wes Straker scored on the power play. Indiana freshman defenseman Zach Hardy scored not long after.
The last three minutes of the second period were active with Indiana securing two goals from junior forward Patrick Brandeburg and DeLorenzo. The second frame ended 4-2.
Rosenberg gave Indiana its fifth goal of the night on a powerplay in the third period. Junior forward Aidan Simoneau followed shortly after with the sixth. Rosenberg then completed his hat trick, bringing the score to 7-2.
DeLorenzo scored the final goal of the night and the game ended 8-2.
Indiana head coach Andrew Weiss said he was happy with the club’s performance this season.
“We’ve had super high expectations for this group just knowing what we’d have coming back,” Weiss said. “But the idea that we’d end the regular season with 25 wins compared to last year’s team that had 19, I think we exceed expectations so far.”
The Hoosiers will advance to the Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League Tournament in the Queen City Sportsplex in Cincinnati, Ohio, to try for their third title. The tournament will take place Feb. 9-11.
The American Collegiate Hockey Association will release additional regional rankings late Feb. 4 and will cement the final regular season rankings Feb. 11.
Indiana is currently ranked No. 3, but if the club advances to No. 2, it will be able to bypass the ACHA Division II Regional tournament and secure a spot at the 2024 ACHA National Championships. The national championship will be held March 7-17 in St. Louis.
