2/12/2013

After a tumultuous two week stretch, the Rockets and their faithful fans can finally breathe a little easier.  This weekend, the final ACHA rankings of the 2012-2013 season were announced and your Rockets finished out the year with the number six spot in the Southeast Region.  This means the Rockets will travel to Pennsauken, New Jersey February 22-24 to take on some of the best teams the ACHA has to offer and try to earn a spot in this year’s national tournament.

Each of the four ACHA Regionals is set up as a single elimination tournament amongst teams ranked 3-10 in their respective region.  Teams ranked number one and two get an automatic bid to Nationals.  Those teams are then joined by two teams from each region whom advance through Regional play.  The Rocket’s first round opponent will be Virginia Tech on Saturday, February 23 at 7 pm.  If the Rocket’s win, they will then play again on Sunday with a chance to advance to the “big dance”; the national tournament. 

As mentioned, this announcement comes has a huge relief to the Rockets following a player eligibility issue which caused them to forfeit two wins against Kentucky and a huge win over Miami (OH).  Those forfeits caused the team to drop to number 9 in the third ranking period and on the verge of exiting the Regional picture.  The team moral and focus also suffered as they stumbled through back-to-back overtime wins against West Virginia (DII) and Ohio University (DII).  During each of those wins, the Rockets were lucky to have a very balanced and deep bench as multiple players stepped up to secure the needed victories.  The team’s biggest contributors were Garryt Kujawa (3G, 2A) and Brent Bain (5A) with five points apiece.  Also having a strong weekend were senior, assistant captain Scott Girardi (1G, 2A) and freshman Zach Born (2G, 1A).

The team seemed to regain their swagger a bit this past weekend though, as they went 3-0 against the likes of Ohio State and Akron.  Starting off the weekend in Columbus, the team took care of business with a 5-3 win over the Buckeyes.  Leading the way were Born, Sven Weisser, Tyler Althouse, and Bain all with two points each.  Returning to Toledo on Saturday, the Rockets again took down the Buckeyes, this time by a score of 8-4.  The team’s offense was led by Logan Myers and Althouse whom both tallied a goal and 2 assists.  Kujawa also lit the lamp twice and Dominic Antonelli added a goal and an assist.

In the Rockets final home game of the semester, they took on intrastate and TSCHL rival Akron.  With major implications in the TSCHL standings, the Rockets used four second period goals to cruise to a 4-2 win. Born again had a multi point night with two goals, while Althouse notched his 99^th career point, and Antonelli kept his point streak alive with an assist.

The Rockets look to ride their new found momentum into Dayton this coming weekend as they finish off the regular season against Dayton and Wright State.  Wins in these games would clinch the TSCHL regular season championship for the Rockets and guarantee and first round bye in the TSCHL playoffs.