Falcons Earn NCAA Tournament At-Large Berth; Host Bethel

March 4 , 2007

The Falcon men’s hockey team earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Div. III national championships and will host Bethel on Wednesday at Hunt Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

St. Norbert is the No. 1 seeded West region team and will host the winner of the River Falls-Bethel game on Saturday. No other West teams were selected. Eastern teams that will compete include Oswego, Norwich, Babson, Manhattenville, Middlebury, Fredonia and Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The Falcons are the only West team to earn an at-large berth. Bethel won the MIAC playoff championship and St. Norbert won the NCHA playoff championship and earned the two conference’s automatic berths.

This is the 11th time the Falcons have earned a berth in the NCAA Div. III national tournament. The Falcons are 22-12 all-time in NCAA play. They won national titles in 1988 and 1994 and finished second in 1993. The team finished third in 1995 and 1996.

“When the season started our goal was to get to the NCAA tournament,” said Falcon Coach Steve Freeman. “We are pleased and honored to play in the championships. It shows that our program is one of the elite hockey programs in the country.”

The Falcons beat Bethel, 7-4, on Jan. 6 at Hunt Arena. BU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game, but the Falcons scored six third period goals to get the win. Wade Harstad scored two goals in the game and Tyler Kostiuk and TJ Dahl each had two assists.

The Falcons last played in the NCAA tournament in 2004 when they opened with a 2-0 win over St. John’s, but lost in the quarterfinals to St. Norbert, 5-2. Freeman’s teams have a 4-6 record in NCAA play. This is the fifth time that Freeman has led the Falcons to the NCAA tournament. The team’s best finish with Freeman behind the bench is fourth place in 2001. Freeman was an assistant coach when the Falcons won the 1994 title. In NCAA tournament games the Falcons are 11-2 at Hunt Arena, 8-8 on the road and 3-2 at neutral sites.

The Falcons enter the tournament with a 21-5-2 record. They won the NCHA regular season championship, but were eliminated from the NCHA tournament in the semifinals.

The Falcons have one of the most talented lines in college hockey with junior Dahl (12-40-52) sophomore Derek Hansberry (21-14-35) and junior Pat Borgestad (16-13-29). Dahl leads the Falcons in assists and Hansberry leads the team in goals. Hansberry leads the team in power-play goals (9) and game winners (5). Dahl is second in power-play goals (8) and he has four game winners. Borgestad has six power-play goals and three game winners.

Three other Falcons scored 20 or more points; junior defenseman Jim Henkemeyer (8-18-24), senior forward Kostiuk (9-12-21) and sophomore forward Dustin Norman (10-10-20). The Falcons average 3.89 goals a game.

Junior goalie AJ Bucchino has played almost every minute in goal. He enters the tournament with a 21-5-2 record with a 2.12 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. He leads the NCAA Div. III in saves percentage and is seventh in goals against average. The Falcons allow 2.25 goals a game.

Special teams always play a key role in tourney play and the Falcons are among the best in the country in power play and penalty kill. The Falcons are 44-172 on the power play (.256). They have killed off 133-155 penalties (.858). The Falcon power play is ninth in the nation and the penalty kill is 12th.

Bethel, which advanced to the NCAA tournament after beating St. Thomas, 5-3, in the MIAC Finals, is led in scoring by Nick Miller (8-18-26). Three other Royals have scored 20 or more points – Jeff Balvin (7-17-24), Steve Eastman (9-13-22) and Brad Peterson (8-12-20). Goalie Aaron Damjanovich is 12-5-1 with a 2.53 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.

Bethel has converted on 37-147 power plays (.252) and have killed off 110-134 opponent power plays (.821).

The Falcons are 13-3 at Hunt Arena this year while Bethel is 5-6-1 in road games.  UWRF leads in the all-time series between the two teams, 9-4-1. The teams have never met in NCAA play before.