MANDAN, ND – Entering the final game of the season with 39 wins already in the books, the University of Mary hockey team celebrated a truly incredible inaugural season in front of a packed house. While the result wasn't what the Marauders hoped for, the season was more than what anyone could have dreamed.
Fresh of a shootout victory on the road the night before, UMary outshot the University of Jamestown by more than a 4-to-1 margin in the final two periods but couldn't overcome an early deficit in the Marauders 2-1 loss to the Jimmies. The game closed out a home-and-home weekend series. UMary finished with a season split of four games against the Jimmies, ranked #16 nationally in ACHA Division I.
First in the final ACHA Division II West region rankings after spending every week atop the leaderboard, the Marauders finish their first season with an impressive 39-5-2-1 record.
After a penalty-filled third period the previous night, tonight's first period followed suit and the Jimmies took advantage of the chaos. Jamestown was whistled for six penalties for 20 minutes while UMary was cited five times for 18 minutes. Between whistles, the Jimmies tallied twice in the opening stanza as Tyler Chavez Leech scored at the 6:52 mark and Garrett Browning followed suit at 13:19.
The first intermission proved to be a calming influence with just five more penalties distributed the remainder of the game. With the ability to now skate more freely, the Marauders began to control the puck and the tempo. The results, however, proved to be slow in coming.
After both teams were credited with 11 shots in the first period, the Marauders ripped off 24 shots in the second to just six for the Jimmies. With just 57 seconds left in the second, the Marauders finally solved Jimmies goaltender David Anderson when
Marshall Tschida found the back of the net to cut the Marauders deficit to 2-1.
Bryce Eckman and
Kyler Moore both were credited with assists on the goal.
The Marauders continued to dominate play in the third, taking 22 of the 27 shots in the final period. Unfortunately UMary couldn't find a way to even the contest.
Honored before the contest, senior goaltender
Aaron Nelson wrapped up a spectacular season in net by stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced. For the season he posted 21 wins, had five shutouts, posted a .941 save percentage and allowed just 1.66 goals per game.
Anderson stopped 56 of the 57 shots he faced.
UMary finished 0-for-6 on the powerplay and 0-for-17 for the weekend. Jamestown was 0-for-4.
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