Having been knocked out of contention for the CHMA regular season championship and a bid to the ACHA National Tournament earlier this month, the IUP Crimson Hawks looked to the CHMA tournament to end their season on a high note.
The sixth-seeded Duquesne Dukes, who just barely qualified for the tournament's final spot, wanted to prove they belonged among the league's top teams, doing just that as they beat the Hawks 4-1 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va.
The Dukes got started quickly, with Rob Utz scoring on assists from Brock Heinauer and Renars Rukmanis 46 seconds into the game.
Seven minutes later, Evan Gorse added another for the Dukes to give his team a 2-0 lead that they held the remainder of the first period.
The Hawks cut the lead to one 2:52 into the second period when Chase Keibler scored with an assist from Lance Lewandowski, the only goal of the night for the team.
After Casey Stern took a slashing penalty with 11:44 to play in the period, Heinauer scored on the power play for the Dukes, giving his team a 3-1 advantage.
Gorse scored his second of the night 1:57 into the third period to close out the scoring and end the Hawks' season.
Christian Cianflone had a solid performance in net for Duquesne, stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced for a .973 save percentage.
Friday's first-round loss ends an up and down season for the Hawks. They led the CHMA conference for much of the year and were ranked as high as No. 24 nationally.
The struggles largely came against non-conference opponents, where the Hawks had a 5-11-2 record. However, the team did not shy away from competition, with seven of those loses at the hands of ranked opponents.
The Hawks also had a few quality non-conference wins, including those against No. 21 Robert Morris, No. 18 Kent State, and No. 22 Michigan-Dearborn.
The team's 10-5 record in conference play was good enough for third-place overall, after suffering losses to the top two teams, West Virginia and Slippery Rock on back-to-back weekends.
Phil Trombetta finished the season as the team's leader in points. In 35 games, he scored 19 goals and recorded 33 assists, for 52 total points. Joe Ford led the team with 22 goals and 151 penalty minutes.
Freshman Ryan Lord saw the most time in net for the Hawks, finishing with a 12-8 record, a 3.77 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
Slippery Rock went on to win the tournament final against Pitt. The Rock will face two-time defending champions Lindenwood in the first round of the national tournament.
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