University of Toledo Hockey

Toledo Thwarts Michigan Team 7-4

January 25, 2012

Brent Bain scored two goals and goalie Craig Trego stopped an Adrian Black penalty shot as Toledo defeated Adrian 7-4 for its fourth consecutive victory.

The visiting Rockets, now 14-7-0-0 on the season, out-shot Adrian 45-38 in the game between teams from the DII Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League and the DIII Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Bain scored the first of his goals in the second period to break a 3-3 tie and put the Rockets ahead for good.

Toledo led 2-1 after the first period on goals 31 seconds apart by Justin Saunder and Sven Weisser.

Trego ensured that the Rockets would take a lead into the first intermission with his save on the penalty shot, awarded when a Rocket hauled down an Adrian skater from behind.

“Adrian is a hard-working team that is well coached,” said Matt Bollinger, Toledo’s head coach. “Our guys took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after the first but we were acting like we were down 2-1. Our guys knew they had a game on their hands and stepped up to the challenge.”

Chris Easton doubled the Rockets’ lead to 3-1 early in the second period, but Adrian stormed back with a pair of power play goals.

A minute after Bain broke the 3-3 tie, Don Conway scored to stretch Toledo’s lead to 5-3.

In the third period, Bain made it 6-3 with his second marker. After Adrian scored with 10 minutes to go to move within 6-4, Tyler Harding closed out the scoring.

Jim Davis

Hockeyyall.com

Toledo Looks to Add Second-Semester Mojo at Adrian

January 23rd, 2012

The Toledo Rockets are hoping that last weekend’s sweep of Cincinnati by a combined score of 20-4 was a hint of good things to come during the second semester.

They’ll begin to find out Tuesday night when they travel to southern Michigan to meet Adrian College’s Black team, an affiliate of the tough Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference.

The Bulldogs are 11-3-0-0 and ranked No. 11 in the ACHD DIII North Region. This will be the first meeting of the two teams. They’ll play again next month.

Toledo goes into the Adrian game with a 13-7-0-0 record and riding a three-game winning streak. At 8-5-0-0 in Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League play, the Rockets are in third place behind league-leading Dayton and Pittsburgh.

“With only a couple bumps in the road, our team has played some good hockey this season,” said first-year Toledo head coach Matt Bollinger.

“We haven’t been able to crack the top 15 in the DII Southeast rankings, but we have beaten three teams currently ranked in the top 15, two of which have been ranked 10th or higher.”

Bollinger is looking for second-semester newcomers Jesse Bachli and Brent Bain to further strengthen his young team. Bachli, who sat out the first semester, has racked up seven points in his first two games.

“[Bain] played for the Alexandria Blizzard last year of the NAHL (North American Hockey League), and he’ll no doubt have a positive impact on our team,” said Bollinger.

Bain joined an impressive corps of first-year Rockets, including GarryJ Kujawa, Ryan Sell (photo) and Chris Easton.

Sell, who skated for Johnson & Wales of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference last season, was leading all Toledo scorers with 19 goals and 19 assists going into the Cincinnati series.

Kujawa, a high school player last season, was right behind Sell with eight goals and 20 assists prior to last weekend.

Easton played in the NA3HL last season. Since joining the Rockets he has been among their scoring leaders and nailed one of the most memorable goals of the season, the game winner against Pittsburgh with one second left in the third period.

All three lead a balanced attack that includes 13 players with point totals in double figures.

Anchoring the Rocket defense are Dan Conway and Nate Connolly. “They are both smart and rarely make a costly mistake,” note Bollinger.

Joining Conway and Connolly on the blue line are Jordan Spzak and Tyler Althouse, both previously forwards. “They helped us in a huge way as we only had four natural defensemen on the roster when the season started,” Bollinger said.

“Both players would rather be at forward, but both have played their role and played it well.”

The Rockets’ last line of defense for most games is goalie Crair Trego, whom Bollinger has tabbed to start against Adrian. Trego played at a high-profile Ohio high school and is used to playing front of big crowds.

Bollinger is hoping the Rockets can avoid their most common pitfall, falling behind in the opening period, against Adrian.

“That being said, we typically play catch up. Bowling Green and Kentucky both beat us in the first game of the series only for us to make the adjustments and beat them both in the second game,” the coach said.

“Our guys just don’t quit.”