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Based on their series back in November the championship game was destined to be a close match-up.  Waldorf College and Robert Morris University-Maroon split their regular season series with an overall goal differential of 1.  Both teams cruised into the championship by throttling their semi-final competition.  Waldorf beat Michigan Tech 7-0 in the early game on Saturday, and RMU-Maroon defeated the University of Minnesota-Duluth 8-3 later. 

 

The start of the first period was as expected, where no touch of the puck went unpunished.  The period was largely back and forth with both teams getting good opportunities.  At 13:47 Matt Liggett would drive the near side and fire a puck on net. RMU goalie Mike Czupryn would put the rebound right out front and stop the first attempt by Daniel Pletta, but Alex Fleming would get the puck across the line off an RMU skate to give Waldorf a 1-0 lead.  Four minutes later Waldorf would get a man-advantage that they wouldn’t waste.  On the PP breakout Artem Savelyev would move the puck to Travis Park who got it up to Christian Weber.  Weber would cross the line and fire the puck under the arm of Czupryn to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.  RMU would find some offensive pressure after that goal, but weren’t able to convert.  

 

RMU looked to get one back as they started the 2nd on the powerplay, but they had a hard time connecting passes.  Both teams had chances, full-strength and on the PP, but neither were able to convert as both tenders stood tall. With 3:53 left in the period, RMU would get a powerplay goal.  Jake Dillman would bring the puck down low and feed it behind the net to Terry Gagleard.  Gagleard would bring it just over the goalline near the net and feed Michael Melka, who was all-alone.  Melka put the puck off the near post and crossbar before it went over the line.  This cut the Waldorf lead to 1, and the period ended with the Eagles down 2-1.

 

The stage was set for a hard-fought 3rd period, and the teams didn’t disappoint.  It started with a lot of hard-hitting action, with both teams coming up big on the penalty kill.  RMU would get their best chance to tie it up when they got a 5-on-3 powerplay 2 minutes into the period.  The Eagles wouldn’t convert early, and they would get a penalty of their own just halfway into the advantage.  After Waldorf killed that off, the period was hard-hitting with lots of energy from both teams.  Right before the Eagles were prepping to pull their goalie Savelyev fed Dalton Kaake below the dots and he buried the final goal between Czupryn and the post with 1:26 left on the game clock.  The crowd erupted after this goal as they knew the Warriors had just won the Hap Cup.  Czupryn took the loss for the Eagles after facing 39 shots, while Nicholas Carroll got the win for Waldorf after making 33 saves.

 

Pictures from the game: http://on.fb.me/1vOmHKU

 

Tournament MVP: Dalton Kaake – Waldorf College

 

The All-Tournament Teams was:

 

Goalie: Nicholas Carroll – Waldorf College

Defensemen: Terry Gagleard (RMU-Maroon) & Jeff Bartel (Waldorf)

Forwards: Artem Savelyev, CJ Weber, and Dalton Kaake from Waldorf

Honorable Mention: Jack Warren and Jake Dillman from RMU-Maroon.