Indiana University Hockey proudly welcomes new head coach Jan Jas!

By Tyler James Perry

Despite their best efforts, the Hoosiers were one win shy of becoming one of 16 teams in the ACHA national championship.

They started off the weekend as the sixth seed in the regional tournament, where they faced seventh seed Temple. Indiana cruised by the Owls, winning 5-2.

“We really didn’t want to lose to them because they’re not in the GMHL, and we wanted to prove how good our league really is,” said junior defenseman Brandon Dornish.

Friday’s win helped then make their point, although they didn’t make much of a statement in the first period.

“We were very careful in the beginning and we kind of started slow,” he said. “Halfway through the second period we stepped it up and took control of the game.”

Dornish also said the team was able to capitalize on Temple’s weaknesses.

“They didn’t really play good team defense,” he said. “Once we started to put pressure on them, they just cracked.”

Junior center Adam Logue said he felt the Hoosiers should have shut out Temple.

“If it wasn’t for two 5-on-3 goals they scored, we would have beat them 5-0,” Logue said.

He admits there was some concern going into the game because Temple is not a team they play often.

“You’re always concerned with an unfamiliar team,” he said. “Once we got out there, we pretty much knew that if we played our game we wouldn’t have a problem with them, and we didn’t.”

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, Saturday’s game was a different story. Knowing a win would take them to the national championship round, they headed into the tournament facing Ohio State, a team that beat them twice in January. The Buckeyes were once again the victors, as they took the victory 6-2, ending Indiana’s run at going back to the national championship game.

“They were up 2-0 after the first period, and in the second we got into a little bit of penalty trouble,” Logue said. “They scored three goals within a minute, and that made it 5-0. It was too deep of a hole to come back from.”

Aside from being knocked out of the tournament, Dornish said the loss was even more disappointing because it came to Ohio State.

“We really wanted to beat them,” he said. “We knew they were a good team. The games we lost earlier in the year, we felt we could have just as easily won those games, so we knew we had a good chance to win going in.”

The loss may be even more disappointing for Logue, who said he thinks that, special teams aside, the Hoosiers are the better team overall.

“If we played 5-on-5 the whole game, it’s a completely different game,” Logue said. “I don’t think Ohio State can keep up with us.”