DEARBORN, Mich. – The No. 2-seeded Indiana Tech men's ice hockey team defeated No. 1-seeded University of Michigan-Dearborn, 5-2, Sunday afternoon in the finals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament inside the UM-Dearborn Ice Arena to win their first-ever conference tournament title.
The Wolverines took lead first with 14:23 left in the first, but the Warriors answered back with a goal from
Matej Krasny 67 seconds later to tie the game up.
Mike Tish put Tech up 2-1 with 1:43 to play in the period while
Jarrett Pfeiffer notched a power play goal with 12 seconds left to give the visitors a 3-1 lead at the first intermission.
Tish notched his second goal of the day two and a half minutes into the second to put the Orange and Black up 4-1, and while the Wolverines cut the deficit in half with 15 minutes left to play,
Bryson Linenburg made eight saves in the final 13 minutes of the game and
Zach Bennett netted an empty-netter with eight seconds left to seal the game and give the Warriors the win.
Linenburg made a career-high 40 saves in the win while
Nick Papandrea netted two assists on the day.
Tech (30-3-0) will now take its 25-game win streak to Antioch, Tennessee next weekend for the North American Intercollegiate Hockey Association (NAIHA) National Tournament, where they open up pool play against sixth-seeded Concordia University (Mich.) Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 14 from the Ford Ice Center.
