Indiana University Hockey proudly welcomes new head coach Jan Jas!

By Tyler James Perry

Indiana ended their season the same way they did last year: by losing to Davenport. The only difference is, this year, it’s not in the national championship game.

Indiana was knocked out of the first round of the GMHL tournament by the defending ACHA and GMHL champions 6-2 Friday. The cream and crimson were supposed to faceoff against Michigan State, but Davenport beat Michigan in a Tuesday makeup game, moving them up to the number one seed. The eighth-seeded Hoosiers weren’t notified of the change until Thursday night -- after their final practice -- where they had been preparing to challenge the Spartans.

“That changed a lot of things,” junior center Adam Logue said. “My style of play and the team’s game plan changed, but we adjusted.”

Head Coach Tom Orr said he wasn’t even aware of the Tuesday game that changed the ranking, and ultimately, the team they would be facing in less than 24 hours.

“The whole week I had the guys prepared to beat Michigan State,” Orr said.

Logue said the team did all they could, but the defending champions were just too strong.

“The Davenport team is an absolute powerhouse,” he said. “There is absolutely no way they won’t win the national championship this year. They’ll win it with no problems.”

Orr seconded that notion, and he added that Davenport was the best team in the country.

“I’d be shocked if they didn’t win the national championship,” Orr said.

Junior defenseman Brandon Dornish said his team played well despite the loss.

“They’re just a much older team,” Dornish said of the eventual tournament champions. “We were pretty much even all the way, but they were able to capitalize on the chances to score.”

Dornish said the odds are always against them when playing the defending champions, but they’re not unbeatable.

“If we played them 10 times, they’re going to win a bunch of them,” he said. “They have an all-out mentality, and we need to match that.”

Davenport went on to take the GMHL crown for the second year in a row with a 5-1 victory over Grand Valley State University.

The Hoosiers finish with a record of 14-15-1 in regular season games, 2-12-0- in league games and 1-2-0 in post-season games. They failed to return to the national tournament, falling one game short.

“It was like a smack in the back of the head,” Logue said, describing the season. “If you don’t play hard every game, you’re not going to make it to the national championship.”

Still, he said he thinks of the positive things to come out of the season.

“I think this year was good for us. I learned a lot and I love the kids on this team,” he said. “I love being in the locker room with my best friends, and I love being on the ice with my best friends.”

Senior forward and team captain Adam Fishbein saw his career with the Hoosiers come to an end on Friday.

“It’s kind of a letdown not making it to nationals,” Fishbein said. “Under different circumstances we could have done a lot more, but it was what it was.”