Univeristy at Buffalo Wings have Great Showing at Nationals!
UB makes Two Final Four Appearances
ECRHA April 18th, 2009 at 3:02PM April 18th, 2009 4:22PM
The University at Buffalo Wings went into Nationals looking for two National Championships. The team made the 7 hour trip to Feasterville, PA, very familiar territory. The D1 team finished pool play 3-0 with 27 goals and just 3 against giving them a 2 seed entering bracket play. They were poised to make a run for the NCRHA title. After a couple of 4 goal wins against regional opponents, West Point and Rhode Island respectively the Wings advanced to Sunday to play powerhouse UMSL. The Wings had only 7 skaters to UMSL’s 12 but skated with them the entire game. Richie Latona stopped the first 23 shots but with under a minute left in the second UMSL scored to take a 1-0 lead. UMSL went up 2-0 early in third then Buffalo started to dominate play. Tyler Walser ripped a shot off the post from a great feed from “Baby†Joe Malinowski. Buffalo had a few more chances but couldn’t find the back of the twine. UMSL went on to Upset Lindenwood in the National Finals 5-3.
The Wings “B†team went into Nationals as the 11 seed of 12, but played nothing like it. They went 2-0-1 against 3 regional champions in pool play. After beating Colorado State in the quarter finals 7-2, the Wings played defending national champions Lindenwood. The Wings went down early and were faced with 3-1 deficit entering the third. After scoring in the first few minutes, Wings continued their dominance on the Power Play against Lindenwood and scored with 3 and a half minutes left. However, a deflected goal snuck under the arm of the Buffalo goaltender in overtime and Lindenwood would go on to defend their National Championship against Penn State. Both UB Wings teams look to advance even further next year after losing to both National Champions in the semi finals.