March 8, 2012

Even during their 13-1-0-0 run to close out the season, the Toledo Rockets received only a cursory glance from the ACHA’s DII Southeast Region ranking committee. Translation: They received at least one vote in the final 2011-12 ranking but not enough to actually climb into the select 15.

During their near-perfect second half of the season, the Rockets defeated four ranked teams and won all three of their games last weekend to nail down the Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League’s playoff championship.

The Rockets zipped up their equipment bags for the last time having posted a 23-9-0-0 record.

No sour grapes from northeast Ohio.

“Before this season, Toledo had only one winning season in the past decade, so we understand that we have to gain the respect of voters and that doesn’t happen overnight,” Matt Bolinger (photo), the Rockets’ first-year head coach, told HockeyYall.com this week.

“ . . . We were disappointed but equated the snub to growing pains, not necessarily disrespect towards our program. However, we did use that as motivation heading into the league playoffs.”

Bolinger said his Rockets played eight good periods out of nine in playoff wins over Akron (6-5), Pittsburgh (4-3) and defending champion Dayton (10-5).

“In the third period of the first game we had a major letdown,” he explained. “We had a four-goal lead and ended up winning by a goal. They (his players) lost their focus.

“Against Pittsburgh, we only trailed 2-1 after the first. To hold (No. 15) Pittsburgh at home to three goals, you’ve got to play three good periods.”

A large measure of the credit for the Rockets’ win over (No. 14) Dayton is due Chris Easton, who figured in six of Toledo’s goals. The team’s third-leading scorer in the regular season, Easton scored four goals himself.

“Our fourth-line guys put on just as much pressure as the first line without the goals,” noted Bolinger proudly.

Toledo’s season took a turn for the better after the first weekend in December, when the Rockets dropped a 6-5 decision to Pittsburgh and lost 5-4 to Indiana University-Pennsylvania.

Going into those games, the Rockets were cruising along at 10-5-0-0. Bolinger had settled on some forward line combinations and defensemen pairings, and the players were more comfortable with each other.

“We beat (No. 12) Kentucky at Kentucky and Pittsburgh at home. We beat (No. 8) Bowling Green [State], who we hadn’t beaten in a while. The guys were starting to believe in themselves,” he said.

Then came the narrow losses to Pitt and IUP. “At that point we looked at ourselves and knew we were better than that,” Bolinger said.

The Rockets won their next six games before splitting a series with Michigan, ranked No. 8 in the North Region.

Then they won another seven in a row, including the three in the TSCHL playoffs.

With only one senior on this season’s squad, the Rockets should loom large in the TSCHL next year and take that next big step into the DII Southeast Region ranking.

“Our record speaks for itself,” said Bolinger, “and we’ll use the confidence that we gained this year, combine it with the disappointment of not being ranked, and put those thoughts to good use when we take the ice next year.”

Jim Davis

hockeyyall.com