A Look Back

The strange case of the 2016-17 season could probably best be told by Robert Louis Stevenson - if he were alive - as it truly was a Jekyll and Hyde year for the Indiana Tech Warriors.  Blasting out of the gate by winning seven of their first eight games, including a 4-3 OT victory over #16 Illinois, the Warriors appeared poised to top their 21 wins from the season before.

Early November found Tech sitting pretty in the Top 25 with a 10-3 record heading into the ACHA Showcase at Robert Morris University.  Three losses later, the battered Warriors stumbled home hoping the friendly confines of the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse would help them regain some of their early season magic.  It wasn’t to be though, as the team went on to drop three of the next four before rebounding with a pair of dominant performances over a soft Eastern Michigan squad going into the winter break.

January proved to be as cruel as October was kind.  The Warriors opened the second half with six straight defeats to fall under .500 for the first time all season.  Now with a 13-15 record and having fallen to #25 from a peak of #18, Tech would notch arguably their biggest win of the year, edging #8 Michigan-Dearborn 4-3 on Senior Night.

The Wolverines started yet another skid for the Warriors, rebounding with a 4-1 win back in Dearborn.  Indiana Tech would go on to finish the season losing five of their last seven to finish 16-20-0 (8-8-0 in the GLCHL).

The Warriors would open the GLCHL Playoffs with a 6-3 victory over Rochester, whom they had defeated twice before way back in November.  Squaring off against #10 Michigan-Dearborn in the semifinals, Tech looked to prove their late January victory was no fluke.  After falling behind 1-0 early in the second period, Joe Molfetta would even the score only a minute later.  The Wolverines, however, would not be denied, rattling off five more goals to chase starting net minder Chet Tooker and take a 6-1 lead into the final frame.  UM-Dearborn would tally one last goal to top the Warriors 7-1 and end their season with a resounding loss.  Indiana Tech would find a small amount of solace with a #23 ranking in the final poll of the season.

Off-season

Head Coach Frank DiCristofaro hit the recruiting trail with two big items on his to-do list:  add some scoring punch to the offense and shore up a thin blue line corps.  The departure of GLCHL All-Defense Team Dylan Grant was the most devastating loss for the Warriors, who now find themselves with only four returning defensemen.

Seven of the top ten scorers from last year’s squad will be back on the Tech bench, but DiCristofaro would like to fill in the gaps created by the loss of Ryan Theisen’s 25 points and Nick Denise’s 22.  Fortunately for the Warriors, the return of the three amigos - Chet Tooker, John Slavic, and Zach Larson - means the Indiana Tech net will be well cared for.

2017-18 season roster updates

A Look Ahead

Indiana Tech finds themselves in one of the most enviable positions in collegiate hockey heading into the 17-18 season.  With the announcement that the ACHA will revive NAIA hockey with a new division, the Warriors’ future became noticeably brighter.  Aside from NCAA Division I , NAIA schools are the only other programs allowed to offer athletic scholarships.  As one of only five schools to take part in the inaugural season, Indiana Tech is hoping the rebirth of NAIA hockey will prove to bear fruit for years to come.

The Warriors return a senior-laded lineup, with goaltenders Slavic and Larson the most notable two.  Back as well are seven of the top ten scorers from last year’s squad, and better still is the fact that Pfeiffer is the lone senior among them.

A few new faces (and one old nemesis) will step into the visitor’s bench at the Icehouse this season.  The freshly minted Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference will feature fellow inaugural NAIA members Aquinas College and Lawrence Tech, along with former GLCHL rivals Rochester and UM-Dearborn.  The Warriors will also face off against Lindenwood-Belleville and Waldorf University in non-league matchups.  Indiana Tech will wrap up the first half with a trip to powerhouse Iowa State.  A visit from Robert Morris (IL) and a home & home series with Michigan-Dearborn loom large on in the second half, along with the I-69 Cup Series with Western Michigan.

Our Prediction

If they can get off to fast start much like they did last season, the Warriors could be poised for a long stay in the top 25. Their depth up front and experience in net should help counter those long losing skids that plagued last year’s squad, as well as give this year’s forward crop time to settle in.  Soilis and Kaiser could prove to be solid contributors should they be able to gain some traction in the early going.  Bennett and Cudmore bring some added size to the Tech front lines that will make it tough on teams to defend, particularly in the corners.

Losing Grant on the back end hurts (a lot).  Sophomore Nick Papandrea will be leaned on heavily to replicate his 12G/11A season, and newcomer Vannelli will be looked to push the puck up the ice and chip in on the scoring as well.  Big-bodies Stotts and Treppa should be able to fill Morlock’s role as  stay-at-home defensemen, and bring a hard-hat mentality to the blue line corps.  The freshman will need to grow up quickly though, and the rest of the defense will need to stay out of the training room and the penalty box or things could get ugly.

The real fun this year is with the return of NAIA Hockey.  Initially this new division will operate under the guidance of the ACHA while working toward a return to championship sport status.  It’ll take some time for the programs to align their standards with the other NAIA sports, but it could pay huge dividends down the road for more aspiring hockey players to receive athletic scholarships.

The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference became the first NAIA conference to offer hockey as a championship sport.  Five of the original six schools tabbed for the NAIA division will participate in the conference, as Life University has re-structured their hockey team and will remain a club program for the upcoming season.  Concordia University recently announced the addition of a men’s ice hockey program that will begin competing in 2018-19, which will bring the conference up to six teams. 

What this means for hockey fans is that not only will we still get to see those fierce matchups with UM-Dearborn and Rochester, playing for a legitimate conference championship adds an extra edge to the rest of the league contests as well.  And as luck would have it, the inaugural WHAC Championship Tournament will be held at the Warriors’ home rink in early March 2018.

There are very few breathers in this year’s slate, which makes for great hockey but also means Tech will need to stay on its toes the whole ride through.  The Warriors will be tested early, opening their season on the road at Adrian College before returning home for a pair against Midland on Homecoming Weekend.  WHAC play begins the following weekend with a home & home against rival Rochester College.  Matchups against UM-Dearborn, Lindenwood-Belleville, Robert Morris, and Iowa State will separate the contenders from the pretenders and provide some insight into the Warriors’ playoff chances.

Fittingly, the battle for the WHAC title will come down to the Warriors and Wolverines.  The UM-Dearborn roster looks very similar to last year as the Wolverines lost only three seniors.  The addition of eight solid freshman (3 Fwd, 4 Def, 1 Goalie) means the Wolverines will continue to be a force to reckon with.  Tech will look to extract a measure of revenge for last season’s disappointing loss in the GLCHL playoffs, but it will be far from easy.   If history holds true, and the bracket bears it out, this year’s conference championship game will set the bar extremely high.

INDIANA TECH WARRIORS INFO

More information on the Warriors can be found at indianatechwarriors.com.  A number of the games can be followed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/indianatech/