Marian University takes home Hap Cup for fifth time:
The stands were packed for the Championship Game between Marian University and Purdue University NW. It would not take long before Easton Nick one-timed home a rebound off an Owen Butler shot to give Marian an early 1-0 lead at 1:06. PNW netted the equalizer at 3:56 on a bang bang play as Savva Verbetskii slid a perfect pass to a charging Jacob Behnke. The next 15 minutes of action would see Marian and PNW trading penalties, with each team coming up empty. There was even a stretch of 1:40 of 4-on-4 action where neither team could light the lamp. Things changed over the final minute of the period though. With 52 seconds to go before the first intermission Jordan Degouw cycled around the back of the net and received a backhand pass from Sam Snider on the backdoor, which he promptly buried to give PNW a 2-1 lead.

 

PNW started the second period with 1:45 of penalty time remaining to kill off. They would do one better as at 0:53 seconds Verbetskii went upper shelf, backhanded and on a breakaway, for a shorthanded goal to make it 3-1. Marian kept on fighting and eventually clawed their way back starting with Nick’s goal, seven seconds into a 4-on-4, at 3:52. Marian evened the score at 12:20 off a nifty twisting backhander by Gavyn Galloway as he went through the slot.

 

Everything came down to the third period. With the game tied, whoever won the period would win the game. The first priority for PNW was to convert their 21 seconds of remaining man advantage, but they were not able to get into their offensive zone. At 1:15, Marian broke the tie when Cayden Frenette was able to sneak one in the net. A second PNW penalty in the period at 13:52 put the Marian powerplay unit back on the ice. This time they would convert and push their lead to two. Scoring after 11 seconds elapsed was Frenette who tipped a shot from the point by Nick into the back of the net. No lead has been safe, let alone a two goal lead. With 2:26 left in regulation PNW pulled their goaltender. It would work in their favor as Flynn O’Neill put home a bouncing puck at 19:23 to put PNW back within one. The last 37 seconds had everyone in the building holding their breath as PNW just missed out on getting the tying goal.