The Marquette club hockey team made it to Sunday’s championship game of the the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association regional playoffs, but went home with a second-place finish.
Marquette entered the tournament in Peoria, Ill., as the No. 7 seed and faced an uphill battle the whole way. The team’s first game was against No. 2 Robert Morris–White, a team the Golden Eagles faced two weeks ago and lost both games to. But Marquette used those losses as motivation.
Marquette came out strong to open the game Friday afternoon, scoring just five minutes into the first period on a shot by Sam Nader.
In the second, the teams traded penalties until Zach Wahl ripped a shot past the Robert Morris keeper to put Marquette up 3-1. After yet another RMU penalty, Austin Carlson snuck a shot past the goalie to give Marquette a three-goal lead. Marquette headed into the final period up 4-2.
The third period continued to see special teams dominate the play, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Robert Morris pulled its goalie for the sixth skater, but Paul Gunza got the empty net goal to solidify the 5-2 victory.
Saturday night pitted Marquette against No. 6 seed Robert Morris–Peoria, the host school for the tournament. Again, Marquette came out of the gate strong, with leading scorer Dominic Zanfardino netting a goal just four minutes into the game. The Eagles answered back three minutes later with a goal of their own, and for the rest of the period, the action went back-and-forth.
Robert Morris–Peoria then quickly answered with two goals within two minutes of each other to build a 3-1 lead early in the second. Just 30 seconds later though, Will Podewils tipped a shot from the point to get Marquette back within one. The Eagles, frustrated with the sudden turn of events, got two penalties back-to-back, including one misconduct when a player refused to head to the penalty box. Nader capitalized on the penalties, tying the game at three right as the second penalty expired.
Robert Morris–Peoria closed out the second with another power play, and ended it up 4-3.
The two teams played a north-south game for the majority of the third, but it was Nader who finally broke through for the Golden Eagles. His goal at 4:44 tied the game up at 4, swinging the momentum into Marquette’s favor. But it was Zanfardino’s heroics with less than a minute left that carried Marquette into the championship game.
Zanfardino notched his second goal of the game on a powerplay. Marquette had a 5-on-3 advantage after the Eagles took two penalties late in the game. Desperately trying to tie the game back up, Robert Morris–Peoria pulled the goalie for the extra skater, but an empty net goal carried the Golden Eagles into the championship with a 6-4 victory.
Marquette faced off against No. 4 seeded Wisconsin–Platteville Sunday for the championship matchup. Platteville notched its first goal of the game just four minutes in, and then added two more goals within 50 seconds for good measure to go up 3-0 before the 10-minute mark in the first.
Marquette finally got up on the scoreboard on a David Fabris shot six minutes into the second. But with neither team able to capitalize on power play opportunities, the second ended with a 3-1 Platteville lead.
The Golden Eagles started off the third on a penalty kill and tried to gain momentum by killing it off. Despite the kill, Platteville found the back of the net to give it a 4-1 lead just less than halfway through the final frame. Marquette kept sending bodies to the front of the net to try to chip away at the lead, and finally a shot was redirected to put Marquette within two. But even with an extra skater and multiple opportunities, the Golden Eagles eventually fell to Platteville 4-2.
Sitting at No. 11 in the ACHA Pacific region, Marquette will not see regional play.
