By Rob Ogden
Each season in the week before the American Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament, members of the hockey team compete in a three-on-three tournament known as the “Battle for the Barrel.”
The team that wins the tournament gets their names put on a green oil barrel.
This year, the tournament took place on Wednesday. The players were split into four teams, blue, black, red and grey.
Each team has a captain, who picks his team in a predetermined draft. This year’s captains were Brett Molnar, Mike Schultz, Mark Tracy and Billy Hemann.
For the first time, head coach Dan Morris participated in the tournament as a member of the blue team.
With a win over team red, the blue team, comprised of Molnar, Morris, Tyler Pilmore, Nick Rostek and Fedor Dushkin became the first team to advance to the finals.
The red team, led by Schultz, then played team black for the other spot in the finals. A 1-1 tie at the end of regulation led to a shootout, won 1-0 by team black.
Black and blue then faced off in the finals. The game remained scoreless until Molnar put his team on the board with a goal with just over three minutes remaining.
Less than a minute later, coach Morris scored a breakaway goal to put blue ahead 2-0.
Team black pulled their goalie with just under a minute remaining but a second Molnar goal into the empty net secured the win for team Molnar.
After their victory, the team celebrated on the ice by hoisting the barrel over their heads.
After the game, Morris said he was pleased with his performance.
“I kept the shifts short, but I scored a goal so I was happy about that.”
When asked who was the tournament MVP, Morris responded unequivocally.
“Teddy,” Morris said. “He made some big saves out there. Goaltenders are key in this thing because you get a lot of odd-man rushes with three-on-three.”