Pool Play Set for National Tournament
GPCIHL March 27th, 2007 at 6:18PMPool Play Set for National Tournament
St. Charles
,
Mo.
â??
March 27, 2007
â?? Lindenwood roller hockey looks to keep two streaks alive going into the national tournament next week. The Division I team looks to make it six championships in a row, and the B Division team looks to make it four in a row.
Last year the Lions top squad was taken to the limit in a 7-5 win over
Michigan
State
in the finals.
â??Each year it seems like the competition as a whole keeps getting better and better. It used to be two or three schools had a legitimate shot, but now there are a handful of teams that could take the title,â? said head coach Ron Beilsten.
Lindenwood, the Great Plains Region regular season and regional tournament champion, opens up pool play against the University of Texas-Austin at
on Wednesday, April 4th. Later on in the afternoon the Lions will take on
Purdue
University
at
. They will wrap up pool play on Thursday with a
tilt versus
Colorado
State
.
Texas
finished second in the regular season and regional tournament to
North
Texas
University
. The Longhorns wrapped up play in the Southwest Region with a
14-5-1
record. Lindenwood and
Texas
have not met before this tournament.
The Lions hold a 3-0-0 all-time record over Purdue. The Boilermakers finished the season with a
12-7-3
record and a fourth place finish in the Midwest Region.
The Rams finished with a
15-5-2
record and a first place regular season finish in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Colorado
State
did lose to
Denver
University
6-5 in the RMCRHA regional finals. The Rams and Lions have not met before this match-up.
â??We have not seen anyone in our pool play at all this year, but we know if we play our game that everything should take care of itself,â? said coach Beilsten.
The Lions B team takes a
21-2-1
record, a regular season and regional championship into the national tournament.
â??Our team is playing the best hockey of the season right now and we are hopefully going to ride that momentum into pool play in the national tournament,â? said assistant coach Jon Hilke.
Lindenwood B will open up pool play on Wednesday with an
face-off against Towson University B. Their second game will be Thursday morning at
against North Texas B. They round out pool play with a
game against Michigan State B on Thursday evening.
Lindenwood and
Towson
met earlier this year in
Bethpage
,
New York
where the Lions shutout the Tigers 9-0.
Towson
finished the year with a
17-10-2
record and a first place regular season finish in the southern conference in the East B Region. The Tigers lost 3-5 to
Suffolk
County
B
in the regional championship game.
The Lions have not met North Texas University B before this tournament.
North Texas
finished as the regular season champ with a
13-1-0
. The Eagles lost to the Aggies of Texas A&M in the Southeast Regional championship game.
Michigan State B finished with a
10-5-1
record and a second place regular season finish in the Midwest Region.
Michigan
State
and Lindenwood have not met before their match-up on Thursday.
The top 16 teams advance to championship play in Division I, while the top 8 teams advance to championship play in the B Division. Updates and further tournament information can be found by logging onto the NCRHA league web page at www.ncrha.org or by checking the Lindenwood roller hockey web page at www.lindenwood.edu.
###
For more information on the Lindenwood Roller Hockey program please contact Derek Schaub at
636.949.4945or [email protected]. To follow the Lions at the national tournament log on to www.ncrha.org