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February
16, 2008 - The first round of the CSCHL playoffs
is in the books with only one upset occurring on the
day, and that was in the first game as #5 Kent State
knocked off #4 Iowa State. The Golden Flashes jumped
out in front early, scoring twice within a two minute
span early in the first period. The first goal coming
on the power play off the stick of Chris Hourigan,
followed up by a Josh Martin goal a minute and forty-one
seconds later. Iowa State would respond with a goal
of their own just 33 seconds later to make it 2-1 at
the end of the first. Kent State and Iowa State swapped
a pair of goals in the second, the Golden Flashes Kevin
Collerain scoring just under a minute into the second
session. The Cyclones Brent Corneleus brought it back
to a one goal two minutes later. Iowa State's Mike
Lebler would tie the game at 3-3 just under five minutes
into the third period, but a goal from Kent State's
Chad Melberg with under five minutes to go in the game
would be the game winner. The 4-3 Kent State win would
move them on to the semi-final round.
The second game of the day would feature #3 Ohio University
taking on #6 Eastern Michigan. Once again it would
be the under dog who would score first, as Eastern
Michigan's Joe Schweiger would provide the only scoring
in the first period. The Bobcat's John Yasik would
even the game at one just 50 seconds into the second
period, which would also be the only scoring of the
period. Ohio would come to life in the third period,
netting a pair of goals near the halfway point. JJ
Plutt would give the Bobcats the lead and a power play
marker from Dave Fitzgerald would would give Ohio the
3-1 win and move them onto the semi-final round.
#2 Lindenwood University and #7 Western Michigan would
be on the schedule for the 3rd game of the day, and
like all of the previous games, the lower seeded team
would be the first to score. Three and a half minutes
into the match, the Stallion's Mike Podelnyk would
put the first point on the board, but the Lions of
Lindenwood would tie the game with a goal from Justin
McLaughlin before the period was over. Lindenwood
would own the second period putting in two goals, the
first from Daniel Amskold at 2:49 and the second from
Jake Ebner at 10:27. It would look as if the Lions
would run away with the game as they added two more
goals early in the third. Cory Spradling and Ken Jacobsmeyer
would extend the Lions lead to 4, but the Stallions
never gave up. Within a 73 second span in the middle
of the period, Western Michigan would 3 points on the
board, making it a one point game. Goals from Aaron
Hartner, Aaron Moss, and Sean McWhorter would make
it a 5-4 game. The Bobcats would hold off any further
charge from the Stallions to take the game and move
onto the semi-finals.
As host and the #1 seed, the University of Illinois
would get the final match of night with #8 Robert Morris
College. In this game the Illini would score first
and score often as the overwhelmed the Eagles. The
Illini would score 4 times in the first period, including
3 power play goal, to take a 4-0 lead in the first.
Drew Heredia would score the first and third, a power
play goal, goals of the period. Alex Park and Jason
Nemeth would pick up the other two power play goals
of the period. The second period would be more of the
same, as the Illini would double their score. The Illini's
Joe Cordona would start off the scoring in the second,
followed by a power play goal from Johnny Liang. Drew
Heredia would earn the hat trick with his second power
play goal of the night, and Pat Saliba would round
out the scoring for the period. Goals by Jason Nemeth
and Joey Resch in the third period for the Illini would
give them the 10-0 win and have them advance into the
semi-finals
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