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ACHA Featurd on NHL.com
Follow this link to check out the exposure the ACHA is getting on the national level. The NHL insider did a special on how serious club hockey is and the opporutunities it can provide for student athletes.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=394182
SVSU Sweeps #1 Hope and #3 Calvin
After the rankings came out and had the Cardinals as #2, they knew they had to prove that they are the top team in the North Region. SVSU traveled across the state to Holland, MI to face-off against #1 Hope College. There isn't a better way to prove you are #1 than beating them. The Cardinals did just that by defeating the Flying Dutchmen 3-1. The 1st period was a stalemate for the most part and it involved a lot of penalty killing by the SVSU defense. Hope did strike first as they notched a powerplay goal with 4:36 remaining in the period. The Cardinals responded quickly as Jon Tibaudo and Brian Jensen set up Doug Greene for a Cardinal powerplay goal. The 2nd period was a battle as neither team could slip a puck into the net. SVSU started the 3rd frame on the powerplay and Jon Tibaudo went top shelf over the goalie's glove with a nice back door pass from Patrick Miller at 1:11 into the period. Jake Chaillier made huge saves to maintain SVSU's lead throughout the rest of the period and then Jensen sealed the game with :18 seconds left on an empty net goal with Miller picking up another assist. Chaillier turned away 31 of 32 Hope shots and helped SVSU keep their winning streak alive.
Saturday night brought #3 Calvin College to the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena and they came ready to play. Calvin has never beaten SVSU in seven attempts. The Knights got on the board early as they scored just 3:06 into the 1st, but Matt Fogal responded just :5 seconds later to tie it up at 1. Calvin fought back and took a 2-1 lead into intermission and were carrying the momentum. Fogal struck again just 1:00 into the 2nd stanza to tie the game at 2, but Calvin scored again midway through the period as SVSU's defense was struggling. The 3rd period began and Calvin put together a neutral zone trap the the Cardinals were having problems breaking. Jon Tibaudo found out how as he recorded the fasted hat trick of the season. With 4:04 left the Cardinals were running out of time trailing by one. Tibaudo scored on a pass from Miller to tie the game. 1:50 later he netted the go ahead goal on a pass from Freshman Steve Pelky and he finished the game and the hat trick as the buzzer sounded to give SVSU a 5-3 victory and a four point lead in the MCHC conference. Chaillier played another stellar game and made 38 saves to give the Cards the chance to win.
Cardinals Remain Unbeaten in the MCHC
SVSU is on top of the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference and Oakland University came to town looking to end their 5 game win streak. SVSU had other ideas in mind as they built up a 3-1 lead after the first period outshooting OU 16-9. Jon Tibaudo got the boys in red on the board at 14:15 on a sweet pass from freshman Ben Welch. OU struck back 2 minutes later, but Tibaudo had the answer scoring a shorthanded goal for his 100th career goal. Kaleb Grapp sent a long breakout pass to Tim Tibaudo who went in and sent a slapshot passed the OU goalie to finish out the scoring in the 1st. Oakland struck first just :15 seconds into the 2nd frame, but yet again SVSU answered with two goals of their own. First, from Joe Swenders who has 4 goals in his last 2 games, and the other by Steve Pelky who also assisted on Swenders goal. The 3rd period also was dominated by SVSU although they were in penalty trouble for most of the game, goalie Jake Chaillier made the saves he needed to and SVSU outscored OU 2-1 with goals by captain Pat Miller and Welch. Chaillier made 30 saves in net for SVSU.
Game Tonight vs Hope College Cancelled
The Friday November 7th game vs Hope College has been cancelled due to a virus that has quarantined the campus at Hope College. The game will be rescheduled for a later date.
Cardinals Begin Homestand with Another Sweep
Friday night matchup a pair of North Region powers and MCHC opponents as Northwood University traveled 15 minutes east to face off against the Cardinals. The game got off to a good start for SVSU as Jon Tibaudo scored just 1:35 into the 1st period with assists to Freshman Ben Welch and Senior Matt Fogal. That goal was all anyone would get in the 1st. The 2nd period was dominated by the Cardinals as they put up 15 shots to the Timberwolves 8. More importantly SVSU gained a 3-0 lead on goals by Welch and then Tibaudo again. Northwood got on the board shorthanded as a SVSU defenseman fell down chasing after a loose puck in the neutral zone with 3:16 left in the 2nd. Doug Greene netted a shorty of his own in the 3rd to give SVSU a comfortable 4-1 lead, however Northwood would not back down and netted a goal with 2:31 left. That is all they would get as SVSU won the Traditional Halloween game for the first time in three years 4-2.
Saturday brought Jackson Community College to town and the Cardinals did not take the new team lightly as they put up 6 goals in the first, 4 in the second, and 4 more in the third for a dominating 14-0 victory. Jake Chaillier picked up his first career shutout turning away all 7 JCC shots. Some other firsts were Joe Swenders first career goal and hat trick, Joe Dragotta's first career goal along with 5 points, and 15 out of 19 skaters recorded at least one point. 14 goals was also the most goals scored in one game by the Cardinals in the team's short 3 year history.
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