Following an intensely respectful post-game handshake line, the FGCU hockey team’s celebratory scrum at Germain Arena grew and grew with exuberant players, coaches and more.
It may as well have encompassed a good bit of campus.
With a 4-2 victory this afternoon over Grand Valley State (Mich.) in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division-II title game, FGCU delivered what history may note as the school’s first national championship in any sport – club level or not.
“Unreal,” said 26-year-old graduate student and left winger Eddie Martin.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said freshman center Dan Echeverri, 21, who scored the game-winning goal with about nine minutes remaining in the third period.
Trailing 2-1 after surrendering a pair of goals late in the second period, FGCU capitalized on its second of three power-play goals on Evan Goetz’s slap shot early in the third period to knot the score 2-2.
With another man advantage for FGCU later in the period, Echeverri skated from right to left into the Grand Valley zone and around a defender for a lefty shot beneath the goalie and a 3-2 FGCU lead.
After Grand Valley pulled its goalie with about two minutes remaining, FGCU just missed a straight shot from long range that banged off the boards before sophomore Kevin Zipkin of Rockland County, N.Y., won a footrace for the puck and clinching insurance goal.
“I couldn’t even stand down there,” said Zipkin, 21, mobbed by teammates after the goal. “I slipped because I was celebrating so hard and they all joined in.”
FGCU, the top-ranked team in D-II’s Southeast region, completed a tournament run that included five wins in five days over Michigan, Colorado State, Northeastern and Michigan State, all top-three teams in other regions. Defending champion Grand Valley was No. 1 in the Central Region.
“It’s incredible,” said team captain and tournament MVP Mike Lendino, who is set to earn his business masters next month and was playing in his last competitive hockey game after six years with the club.
“Being able to say we’re the first national championship program at FGCU, that’s an honor that I think all of us understand and are going to really carry with us for the rest of our lives.”
Even though not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, ACHA features nearly 500 teams in five divisions – three men’s and two women’s – with some moving on to professional hockey, including FGCU players.
A capacity crowd of about 500, including many FGCU students, watched the school’s midday victory on one of the Germain Arena side rinks.
“If we’re not attached to the athletic program, that doesn’t bother me,” Lendino said. “They still give us support. We still go to their games. As long as we keep winning and getting FGCU more on the map.”
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