|
| Adrian athletics photo |
The fourth time was the charm for the Adrian men's hockey team as it was the fourth trip to the Division III Frozen Four after finishing as runner-up in 2011 and losing in the semifinals in 2015 and 2017. After the Bulldogs' 5-2 victory against SUNY Geneseo to earn the team's and college's first NCAA national championship, the men's hockey program has officially gone full circle.
President Jeffrey Docking arrived at Adrian in 2005 with the task of boosting enrollment. He had a plan that used college athletics to boost the enrollment at Adrian College. One of the sports that was added was men's hockey.
After hiring a coach and building a facility, the 2007-08 season marked the program's inaugural season on the ice. Coach Ron Fogarty led the Bulldogs to a 26-3 record and finished 19-1 in conference play. Due to the low number of teams in the conference, there was no automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the Bulldogs weren't selected as an at large bid.
Adrian tried again in the 2008-09 season finishing 27-1-1 with a 20-0 record in conference. Again, not selected. Neumann went on to win the national championship that season four months after Adrian defeated Neumann 10-1. The next season, Adrian was finally selected for the NCAA Tournament, but served a quick trip exiting the tournament in the first round after a loss to St. Norbert who went on to lose in the national championship game. For the last three years, there was one goal on the mind of the team, and it was taking a trip to Lake Placid for the Frozen Four.
The next season, the NCAA selected Minneapolis as the location for the NCAA Frozen Four where Adrian fell to St. Norbert 4-3 in the national championship game. In the team's Frozen Four appearance in 2015, they were back in Minneapolis, and went to Utica, New York, during the Frozen Four trip in 2017.
Skip ahead to the 2021-22 season, the NCAA decided to put the Frozen Four back in Lake Placid. The Bulldogs knew what was at stake and what they needed to do for the program that started 15-years ago. Adrian began the season as the No. 4 ranked team in the nation and dropped opening night on the road to No. 3 Utica with 12 members of the team missing due to COVID-19. The next night, the Bulldogs won in overtime and started its run to the national championship.
The run included 31 games in a row which the Bulldogs won to break a program record for most wins in a single season. The 31-1 record also topped the NCAA D-III record for winning percentage previously set by UW-Stevens Point in 2019 at .968. Adrian finished with a winning percentage of .969.
During the 2021-22 season, Adrian won the NCHA regular season Peters Cup championship and the NCHA Harris Cup playoff championship. Four players were named All-Conference with one selected to the All-Freshman Team. Four players were named to the Harris Cup All-Tournament Team and four players were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. Prior to the tournament, Adrian received three First Team All-American honors and one Second Team All-American honor. Coach Adam Krug also received a pair of awards as he was named the NCHA Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career, and was named the winner of the Edward Jeremiah Award as the NCAA D-III national coach of the year.
Krug was part of the program during its inaugural season in 2007-08 when Fogarty recruited Krug as a player to help start up the program. Krug was part of what happened during the 2007-08 season and the 2008-09 season, so he knew why Lake Placid was a special place to Adrian College. Lake Placid became even more special on March 26, 2022 when Adrian finally closed the circle. After 15-years of success in the Arrington Ice Arena, the Bulldogs can officially say that they are national champions.