EWU hockey squad goes 2-2 in national tourney
The gear is barely packed away following Eastern Washington University’s appearance at the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s national tournament last week at Fort Collins, Colo. Yet the wheels are already turning on how to make it to that level next year.
“In my mind we start preparing for next year right now,” said first-year EWU coach Gary Braun.
“I’m going to try to identify a couple of kids we want to go after,” Braun said. “We have to set our schedule. We don’t have time to sit around.”
EWU reached the semifinal round of the ACHA tournament before falling 3-0 to Davenport University of Grand Rapids, Mich. last Saturday. Eastern finished 2-2 in the tournament and 21-3-3 overall.
“Our problem was we just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Braun said.
Eastern opened the tournament with a 6-1 win over Ohio State. Former Spokane Brave Josh Pickens had a pair of goals for the Eagles.
In game two, a 3-1 loss to Michigan, Mike Truex scored the lone Eastern goal. Kris Kushniruk, Sean Compton, Scott Rensmon, Nick Kooiker and Travis Popp scored in Eastern’s 5-2 win over Penn State.
The Penn State win put EWU a win away from playing for a national championship. But the heavy-hitting game took its toll on Eastern, Braun said.
“We were running out of gas because we played the same kind of game on Friday (against Penn State). I basically didn’t have a fourth line,” said the former Spokane Chief and Braves coach.
Eastern’s rugged style of play, one borrowed from Braun’s many years playing professionally and coaching, took its toll on Davenport, in Braun’s estimation.
“To play that physical … nobody played them like we did,” Braun said. “We beat the crap out of them (Davenport), and Michigan State beat them (5-4) in overtime (in the championship game).”
“We didn’t have the horses to play with these guys,” said Braun, pointing out that, “Davenport’s got like a five-man coaching staff and they are fully funded. They are a big-time program.”
Next season, Braun hopes to further elevate an EWU program that is less than 10 years old. But it may not be that big of a job considering that Travis Popp is the only player that graduates.
“We definitely thought we were a contender for the championship,” Braun said. “We’re happy with the performance, but the next thing is to go and win that championship.”
Number one on Braun’s list is goal scoring.
“We’ve gotta find a couple of guys who can give us some offense,” Braun said.
One area that should not be a worry to Braun is goaltending. EWU’s starting goaltender, Andy Pate, was named to the tournament’s second All-Star team.