Regional Playoffs [2.23.08]

Playoffs in each of the four ACHA Division 2 Regionals are underway. Follow the action and results at the folowing web page:

return to top

UMBC #8 In Final Southeast Ranking [2.13.08]

(As Posted on MACHA Web Site) The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) announced the final regular season rankings for the Southeast Region. On the line: 2 auto-bids to the National Tournament and a chance to play-off for the remaining 2 bids to the ACHA National Tournament. For the first time in several years the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA) will not be sending an auto-bid team to nationals. However, the MACHA will once again be well-represented in the post-season by sending 50% of the field to the Southeast Regional Tournament in Rockville, MD two weekends from now. The auto bids went to #1 Florida Gulf Coast University and #2 Miami of Ohio, who edged out #3 William Patterson University by 2 rankings points. Wagner finished up at #4 while UMBC was at #8 and Temple rounds out the field at #10. St. Joe's finished strong at #12, while Rider received votes but not enough to put them in the top 15. The first round match-ups, a week from Friday at Rockville Ice Arena will look like this:
#3 WPU vs. #10 Temple
#4 Wagner vs. #9 Kentucky
#5 Ohio State vs. #8 UMBC
#6 Indiana vs. #7 Kennesaw State
To see the complete rankings for all four ACHA regions go to the ACHA D-II Rankings page at:

return to top

UMBC #8 In 4th Ranking [2.2.08]

ACHA Southeast Ranking #4 based on games thru 27 January 08. (Final Ranking Will Be Based On Games Thru 9 Feb 08.)
1 - Florida Gulf Coast
2 - Miami (Ohio)
3 - William Patterson
4 - Wagner
5 - Ohio State
6 - Kennesaw State
7 - Indiana
8 - UMBC
9 - Temple
10 - Kentucky
11 - Wright State
12 - Bowling Breen
13 - St. Joe's
Top 2 teams following Final Ranking earn spots in Nationals. Teams 3 - 10 participate in Southeast Regionals. SE Regional winner and runner up go to Nationals.

DAWGS Off to Fast Start In 2008 [01.27.08]

The UMBC Retrievers are off to a fast start at the outset of 2008. Showing the wear and tear of the end of the first semester and final exams in their game against St. Joe's, the team took advantage of the layoff to recharge. Back to practice two weeks before the majority of their fellow students needed to arrive, the team knew they faced a challenging schedule with 3 of their first 4 games in 2008 against teams ranked ahead of them in the MACHA standings. First up, on 18 Jan, was Temple University who came into Piney Orchard having defeated UMBC in the season's first meeting. Temple put offensive pressure on UMBC for much of the game but goalie Andrew Davis was solid in net - stopping 32 of 35 shots during the game. Goals by Post and Fetscher helped stake UMBC to a 2 - 1 lead at the end of the first period. UMBC scored again in the second period, but Temple answered to close the score to 3 - 2. That pattern repeated itself in the 3d period resulting in a 4 - 3 score. Temple pulled their goalie and had some shots in the last minute of play, but UMBC was able to stay focused in their defensive zone to seal the victory and gain thier first 2 points of 2008.
The 2d game of the opening weekend saw the team on the bus headed for a tilt with Rider University. The long bus ride did not sit well with the team as they got off to a slow start on the ice in Loucks Arena. A quick goal in the first 90 seconds followed by a power play goal at the 15 minute mark saw the Retrievers down 2 - 0. Andrew Davis came in to try and shake things up. The team played better in their zone but could not get on the scoreboard during the 1st period. A power play goal by Alex Post in the 1st minute of the 2d period got UMBC on the scoreboard. Penalties put the Retrievers down a man twice - but Kobis and Freischtat took advantage of the extra space on the ice as each scored short handed goals to put UMBC up 3 - 2. Another goal towards the end of the period saw UMBC take a 4 - 2 lead and the team hitting their stride on both offense and defense. Two power play goals in the 3d period sealed the deal for the Retrievers as they continued to work their way up in the MACHA standings.
The final game before the start of 2d semester classes saw William Patterson making their way to Piney Orchard on 25 Jan. Fresh off a tie against league leading Wagner, the Pioneers' radio broadcasters used their pregame time to discuss how a win against UMBC was critical to their chances of moving up in the Southeast rankings in hopes of receiving an automatic spot in Nationals. However, the Retrievers were not ready for them to pack their bags for Fort Meyers at their expense. The Pioneers came out flying but the Retrievers held their own. Both teams moved the puck well, finished their checks, and killed penalties. The goalies put on a solid show - both stopping everything thrown at them and keeping rebounds away from the nets. PJ Carmack turned away 12 shots and Kyle Finnerty kept 7 Retriever shots out of the net. The 2d period saw more of the same as the action went back and forth and both team getting some solid scoring chances on both even strength and man up opportunities. William Patterson finally broke the stalemate at about the 5 minute mark of the 2d period when they were able to score on a 2 on 1 opportunity. Both teams generated 10 shots in the period as they battled back and forth at both ends of the ice. UMBC nearly tied things up twice - just missing the net on a nicely set up power play attempt as well as on a shot that was deflected up in the air and landing near the front edge of the top of the net. It looked like a night of 'close calls' might doom the Dawgs. The Pioneers continued to pressure UMBC in the 3d period - launching 11 more shots on goal. Carmack continued his solid play in net and kept the Pioneers off the scoreboard. Things turned in the Retrievers favored when William Patterson was called for back to back penalties and Alex Post capitalized with a power play goal on a nice set up by Danna Becker. The 1 - 1 tie would continue for the next 8 minutes as what was probably the Retrievers most complete team effort of the season continued to unfold. Their hard work payed off when Barnabis Skobis scored on a rebound off a shot from Cody Rowland. 16 seconds later, John Fetscher drove down the left side of the ice on a feed from Alex Stevenson and put the puck in the back of the net. The 3 - 1 score held up giving UMBC 2 more hard earned points for a total of 6 in their 1st three games of 2008.

UMBC #10 In 3rd Ranking [12.14.07]

ACHA Southeast Ranking #3 based on games thru 16 December 07. (Next Ranking Will Be Based On Games Thru 27 Jan 08.)
1 - Florida Gulf Coast
2 - Miami (Ohio)
3 - William Patterson
4 - Wagner
5 - Ohio State
6 - Kennessaw State
7 - Indianna
8 - UMBC
9 - Temple
10 - Kentucky
11 - Wright State
12 - Bowling Green
13 - St. Joe's
Top 2 teams following Final Ranking earn spots in Nationals. Teams 3 - 10 participate in Southeast Regionals. SE Regional winner and runner up go to Nationals.

UMBC Heads Into Thanksgiving Break On Winning Note [11.01.07]

The Dawgs went on the road on 17 November to take on the Seton Hall Pirates before starting their Thanksgiving break. Seton Hall picked up the first two goals of the game, as Myles Robinson and Brian Slattery connected to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Alex Post scored late in the first to cut the lead in half. Six minutes into the second period, Bob Patlen scored on the power play to increase Seton Hall's lead to 3-1. After the third goal, UMBC responded with a four-goal run that would extend into the third period. Alex Post scored his second goal of the game, and Justin Freishtat added three goals in a row, giving the Dawgs a 5-3 advantage. In the middle of the third, Brian Slattery scored a goal to cut UMBC's advantage to one, at 5-4. Two minutes later, Kevin Rider put one in for the Dawgs, making the score 6-4. Seconds later, Myles Robinson scored for the Pirates, but it would not be enough, as the Dawgs scored two late insurance goals, going on to win the game, 8-5. UMBC outshot the Pirates 53-42 in the game, and Andrew Davis stopped 37 shots to pick up his sixth win of the season.

UMBC-6 Georgetown-1 [11.07.07]

The Georgetown Hoyas came to Piney Orchard on Saturday night to try and upset the Dawg's winning ways. UMBC got into early penalty trouble, but that didn't stop Drew Harcharik. In the middle of the first period, he managed to score two consecutive shorthanded goals in a span of 18 seconds, giving the Dawgs a 2-0 lead. Alex Post added a marker two minutes later, increasing UMBC's advantage to three. Early in the second, Justin Freishtat scored on the powerplay, with assists from Harcharik and Bill Groves, to extend the UMBC lead to 4-0. Nearly nine minutes later, Alex Stevenson ripped the twine for the Dawg's fifth goal on the night, then followed that up with another goal two minutes after that. UMBC was in control of the game, leading 6-0 after 40 minutes. Georgetown was able to sneak one in with 7:08 remaining in the game, but the Dawgs picked up their fifth straight home win of the year, winning 6-1. The defense played extremely well, and P.J. Carmack stopped 30 of the Hoyas' 31 shots, cruising to his fourth win on the season.

UMBC #10 In 1st Ranking [11.06.07]

ACHA Southeast Ranking #1 based on games thru 28 October 07. (Next Ranking Will Be Based On Games Thru 18 Nov 07.)
1 - Florida Gulf Coast
2 - William Patterson
3 - Wagner
4 - Indiana
5 - Ohio State
6 - Miami
7 - Temple
8 - Wright State
9 - Kentucky
10 - UMBC
11 - Kennesaw
12 - Dayton
13 - Purdue
Top 2 teams following Ranking #5 earn spot in Nationals. Teams 3 - 10 participate in Southeast Regionals. Regional winner and runner up go to Nationals.

UMBC Dominates College Park [10.12.07]

Our team had a strong weekend putting together everything we worked on the previous week. It was great to see the support from the UMBC students and a lot of alumni. There were a lot of people which made it very exciting. The boys never stopped moving and that's the key to our success. We had solid defense and goaltending which allowed us to move the puck up ice quickly to create scoring chances. Davis and PJ faced a lot of shots this weekend where they came up big for us to allow us to keep the momentum and move the puck. We moved Stevenson up to forward and his debut this weekend proved to be a good move with 4 goals, 1 assist, and a +4. Friday, Groves and Rowland were outstanding at defense with Rider and Becker taking over on Saturday. Becker played like a man possessed this weekend earning the game puck on Saturday. Post, Fetch and Stevenson were the hot line on Friday with Harcharick, Freishtat and Harrision taking over on Saturday. Saturday we had all 3 lines clicking with Rappold, Richards, Zino, and Stanley working well. Gwinn and Weikle had a solid game on Saturday earning a +2. This week we need to work on maintaining the momentum with keeping our feet moving and having solid defense. Our focus and mental preparation will be key. This is our first league game against an opponent we have never beaten since I started coaching here 5 years ago. If our guys come out like they did this past weekend, it should be our year to break the streak.