Mar 16, 2022
Two years ago, St. Bonaventure advanced to the quarterfinals of the Collegiate Hockey Federation Cup tournament.
Then the world stopped. COVID-19 thwarted the Bonnies’ dream of winning a national hockey tournament.
This weekend, the Bonnies, fresh off a dominating 6-2 win over Buffalo State to win the Upstate New York Collegiate Hockey League championship, have a chance to revive that dream when they head to West Chester, Pennsylvania, for the third annual Federation Cup.
“There’s definitely some unfinished business,” said Taylor Rosenberg, coach of the Bonnies. “A lot of our seniors and grad students were on that team and would like to win this not only for themselves, but for their friends and teammates who graduated and had that opportunity (in 2020) taken away from them.”
The Bonnies are seeded 15th in the 32-team tournament, but are the second-highest seed in their four-team pool. The Bonnies face 18th-seeded East Carolina Friday at 1:15 p.m.; Penn State-Harrisburg, seeded 31st, at 3:15 p.m. Saturday; and 2nd-seeded SUNY-Farmingdale at 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
For a fee, the games can be livestreamed at https://www.bdehockey.com/home-chf.php. Packages are available for four-hour increments, all of pool play, all of medal-round play, and the entire tournament.
The team in each of the eight pools with the most points — teams earn two points for a win and one for a tie — will advance to the quarterfinals on Monday after three days of round-robin pool play. Ties for first in the pools will be broken by head-to-head results, then by fewest goals allowed and then, if still tied, by goal differential.
Quarterfinals, semifinals and title/consolation games are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The potential to play six games in six days is a challenge, but one that Rosenberg thinks the Bonnies are suited to handle better than most teams in the tournament.
“Our ability to roll out four good lines will be huge for us,” Rosenberg said. “A lot of these teams are very good, but they have only two strong lines who will end up playing 75% of the time and that will be tough to cope with playing so many games on consecutive days.”
The Bonnies’ win over Buffalo State Feb. 27 was the club’s 12th straight. If the Bonnies play the way they did in capturing that UNYCHL title, Rosenberg is confident in his team’s chances at the tournament.
“If we can play the way we did vs. Buff State, the way we’re capable of when playing our best, I believe we’re good enough to not only win our pool, but to win the whole darn thing,” he said.
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.