Adrian College captured its first ACHA Men’s Division-I National Championship after dominating the University of Illinois with an 8-1 victory Tuesday night at the OhioHealth Ice Haus at Nationwide Arena.

Adrian’s first trip under the national spotlight, senior Brad Kobryn and freshman Mike Finger each had three points on the night as the Bulldogs had five players with multiple-point performances to help them hoist the Murdoch Cup.

Finger and Kobryn, along with senior captain Archie Mckinnon, connected just 45 seconds into the opening period to set the tone. Just past the midway mark, Michael Tratar put Adrian up 2-0 as the Bulldogs peppered Illinois netminder David Heflin—who made several stops before losing his feet.

Robert Ernsting, who tallied three assists last night in the semi-finals, added his fifth of the Championships when David Kellner found the rebound to get the puck past Bulldogs goalie Austyn Roudebush at 1:41 into the second period.

From then on, Adrian College took control of the game as the Bulldogs responded with a trio of goals in the middle frame.

Goaltender Roudebush, when he wasn’t stopping 28 of the 29 shots on goal this evening, assisted with Jordan Oshowy on Austin Kuhn’s breakaway goal and first point of the night to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead at 6:06 into the second period.

Adrian took a commanding 4-1 lead a minute and a half later, at 7:41, as Joe Castello made a slick trick skating right up to and behind Hefflin to slip the puck between his skate and the right side of the post. Justin Fisher would extend the lead to 5-1 at 11:39 in the second with a slap shot from a backwards pass from Finger at 15:49.

The Bulldogs kept biting away at the Fighting Illini with another trio of goals in the third period. Freshman Marcus Rose, who led the team in scoring during the Championships with three goals and five points, gave Adrian a 6-1 lead 50 seconds into the period. Kobryn finished the night with a pair of goals, including one on the power-play goal, within 1:38 of each other to give Adrian College their rightful title of National Champions.

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