Eastern Michigan Eagles Fly Away With Two Titles

The inaugural MCRHL Championships were held this weekend at Total Roller Hockey in Wixom, Michigan. Eastern Michigan was the big winner at the event, the A team going undefeated to capture the Haschel Cup, and the B team doing the same to grab the Midwest Cup. Although the B squad winning it all may not have come as a surprise given they are currently ranked first nationally, the A team was the fifth seed in the tournament, and played as if they hadn?t lost a game all season. As predicted, the first round of the tournament was the key, because getting through the loser?s bracket to win the championship would have taken six wins in a row. In that first round, the Eagles were able to defeat the rival Ohio State Buckeyes 5-4 in a thrilling game. Gene Diamond made a couple of fantastic saves with just seconds left to keep the game out of overtime and force a matchup with the first ranked Michigan State Spartans. Although MSU was missing a couple of players, many still considered the Spartans the favorite. But Eastern jumped out early and never looked back, crushing Michigan State 9-2, the biggest loss for the Spartans since last year?s CRHL Premier League against Lindenwood University. It seemed the Eagles were simply motivated to win the championship and had gained confidence by beating Michigan State just a few weeks ago. With Michigan State out of the way, the Eagles faced a Western Michigan squad that had dominated both Illinois and Michigan earlier in the day. The anticipation was that this game would be a close one, and the winner would certainly have an edge on winning the finals, but it turned out not to be close at all. Just a few minutes into the game, the Eagles had scored five goals en route to a 9-3 victory over the Broncos. It seemed the Broncos were also not prepared for the speed and intensity that Eastern brought to the game, and although they mounted a great comeback the next morning, WMU was not able to overcome a second 5 goal deficit and was ousted by Ohio State 7-6. So the fourth and fifth seeded teams, who met in the first round, were now playing in the finals, but the difference was rest. By the time the championship game started, the Eagles had not played in 17 hours while the Buckeyes were playing their sixth game in 22 hours. That was the basic difference in another Eastern Michigan route that ended with a final score of 10-1. Ron Cooper was named the MVP with a hat-trick supported by an additional assist. By winning, the Eagles got off of the national championship bubble and clinched the one MCRHL automatic bid to the 2004 Collegiate Roller Hockey National Championships. They get to keep the Haschel Cup until the spring semester next season when they will defend their title as MCRHL Champions. Eastern Michigan B had a slightly lighter load to carry to win the Midwest Cup, but they did it in the same undefeated fashion as the A squad, defeating Western Michigan B in a thrilling overtime championship game. The Eagles started the weekend by playing the fourth seed Michigan State B Spartans, who had eliminated Illinois B 4-2 earlier in the day. Like their A team counterparts, the B Eagles were able to take control of the game against MSU and never relinquished control, rolling to an 11-5 victory. Because the B Division tournament included only six teams, that win put EMU B in the winners? bracket championship against Western Michigan B, who had defeated the Cinderella story Ohio State B Buckeyes 8-7 in a fantastic overtime game. The WMU/EMU B game on Saturday night was again dominated by the Eagles 12-5, pushing them into the finals on Sunday morning and giving them the advantage of having to lose back-to-back games to be eliminated. To decide the Eagles? opponent, Western Michigan B and Ohio State B had to face-off in a rematch of their semi-final game. In this matchup, it appeared the Buckeye B team, who had pulled off an incredible upset of Michigan B in the first round, just ran out of gas and weren?t able to compete for 36 minutes in a game which ended at 9-5. Tim Sullivan was the star of that game for the Broncos, scoring 5 goals. That set up another rematch in the finals between Western and Eastern. As a result of their game on Saturday, Eastern lead the season series 3-1 entering the game. The Broncos fought extremely hard in this game, coming back from deficits almost the entire time. In fact, the first Bronco lead came with 3:07 to play and made the score 7-6. After Tim Sullivan scored 38 seconds later to make the game 8-6, it appeared the Eagles would have to play another game later in the afternoon before having a chance to drink from the cup. Chris Duncan didn?t give up though, and scored two goals just 3 seconds apart to tie the game at 8 and send it to overtime. After a couple of chances each way, Mike Rollet was able to win the game 1:56 into the overtime for the Eagles, capturing the first ever MCRHL B Division Championship. Even in the loss, Nick Resk of Western Michigan was named the MVP, scoring 5 goals along with an assist for the Broncos. Without an automatic bid for the B Division at the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships, both teams will wait with baited breath over the next few hours to see if they will make the list of teams invited to Anaheim, CA. Stay tuned to MCRHL.com and NCRHA.org for the selection lists and other news on the national tournament in the coming days. Congratulations to all MCRHL teams on a great season and an exciting tournament, and we hope to see you all back next year. Here's how the teams finished in Wixom. Active Division 1. Eastern Michigan 2. Ohio State 3. Western Michigan 4. Illinois State 5-6. Michigan State/Michigan 7-8. Illinois/Ball State B Division 1. Eastern Michigan B 2. Western Michigan B 3. Ohio State B 4. Michigan State B 5. Michigan B/Illinois B