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March 22, 2009

Gusties fall 4-1 in title game

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  • David Martinson netted the lone goal for Gustavus in their NCAA championship game against Neumann Saturday, scoring in the first period of a 4-1 loss.

    David Martinson

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Martinson scores lone goal for Gustavus

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Neumann took advantage of nearly every opportunity against Gustavus Adolphus College in the NCCA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championship game Saturday and the result was the program’s first-ever national title.

The Knights netted three goals in the second period on their way to a 4-1 win at the 1980 Olympic Rink.

“I’m just glad we showed we belonged here,” first-year head coach Dominick Dawes said. “We played the best teams all season long, and we beat the best teams.”

After entering the second period deadlocked at 1-1, Jesse Cole and Ryan Heickert teamed up for two goals in a span of 3:47. The first was a tipped Heickert shot for Cole’s first goal of the night, and the second came from a nice feed across the slot by Heickert.

“Ryan basically put it on a tee for me,” Cole said.

Heickert also scored Neumann’s first goal of the night in the opening period, negating David Martinson’s game-opening score for Gustavus Adolphus.

It took Neumann goaltender Ross MacKinnon a period to settle down and get a feel for his positioning. Martinson scored his goal by banking a shot off MacKinnon’s chest from behind the net.

“It didn’t really get by me,” MacKinnon said. “I put it in the net myself.”

But, after the Gusties’ only score, the freshman netminder picked up right where he left off a night ago when he shut out Hobart in the semifinal for only his second shutout of the season. MacKinnon made 24 saves in Saturday’s championship game.

“It took me a while to get into that game,” he said. “I was kind of all over the place.”

Gustavus Adolphus controlled the majority of the first period, outshooting Neuman, 8-3.

The Gusties also outshot Neumann for the game, 25-22. However, Gustavus Adolphus head coach Brett Petersen said Neumann did a good job limiting his team’s scoring opportunities.

“We had a hard time penetrating,” he said. “When the rebounds were there, we just couldn’t get there.”

Neither team scored in the final period despite the Gusties pulling their goaltender for the last five minutes of the game.

Neumann had only three shots in the period, but the 16 in the second was the difference.

“We didn’t want to leave any clubs in the bag,” Petersen said of the empty-net strategy.

Neumann played conservatively near the end of the game and Dawes said the Knights weren’t worried about scoring goals at that point.

But, his goaltender would beg to differ.

“If I got the puck, I was going to shoot it,” MacKinnon said with a smile.

The All-Tournament team consisted of Neumann forwards Cole and Matt Ward, Patrick Dynan from the Gusties, Hobart defenseman Andy Brennan, Neumann defenseman Charles Paterson and MacKinnon in goal. MacKinnon received the Most Outstanding Player Award.

“The better team won tonight,” Petersen said. “No question about that.”



Neumann 4, Gustavus Adolphus 1



Gustavus Adolphus 1 0 0 — 1
Neumann 1 3 0 — 4



Score by periods:
First period — 1, GA, Martinson (Wieck), 4:54. 2, Neu, Heickert ppg (Bianchini), 12:52.
Second period — 3, Neu, Cole (Heickert), 3:06. 4, Neu, Cole (Heickert, Gates), 6:53. 5, Neu, Gardner ppg (Ward, Patterson), 10:37.
Third period — No scoring.



Shots by period:
Gustavus Adolphus 8 8 9 — 25
Neumann 3 16 3 — 22



Saves: Lopes, GA; 18. MacKinnon, Neu; 24.

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