Team loses conference championship

FISHERS, Ind. -- In an dramatic weekend at the Fishers Ice Forum, the hockey team crushed Toledo 10-0 Friday, slipped past Dayton 3-2 in overtime early Saturday, then lost the league championship to Miami of Ohio 2-1 in double-overtime Saturday.\nFriday saw all favorite seeds easily succeed in advancing to the tournament's quarterfinal round. Fourth-seeded Dayton handled No. 5 Kentucky 5-2. Third-seeded Miami crushed No. 6 Purdue 14-3, while No. 2 Michigan defeated No. 7 Ohio State 15-3.\nThe Hoosiers faced a Toledo team Friday that only brought eight uniformed players.\n"They only had seven skaters," coach Rich Holdeman said. "They just packed it in around their net, and we spent the whole time in their zone."\nIU outshot Toledo 68-5, with sophomore goalie Charlie Pulley recording the shutout.\nThe Hoosiers hit the ice at 10 a.m. Saturday and managed to squeak past Dayton in a game in which the Hoosiers never had the lead until the end. IU found itself in the position of being forced to answer Dayton's goals. When regulation ended in a 2-2 tie, IU capitalized on overtime play. Junior forward and captain Dan Hauck slipped a shot over the shoulder of the Dayton goalie just 79 seconds into the overtime to give the Hoosiers a 3-2 victory.\nWith Miami defeating Michigan 5-4 in overtime, the Hoosiers found themselves face to face with the only team that had defeated them in conference play this season. The Hoosiers capitalized early on a 4-3 power play when junior forward and assistant captain Bryan Grant took a feed from junior Gordy Haggard and slipped it past Miami goalie Ben Winkler. But with 23 seconds remaining in the first period, Miami returned the favor, using a 5-on-4 opportunity to get on the scoreboard.\nDespite both teams' extraordinary effort, the game remained otherwise scoreless through the end of the first overtime. Exactly five minutes into the second overtime, Miami finally got its second shot of the evening past Pulley, and the Hoosiers found themselves in second place for the second year in a row.\n"We played really well," Hauck said. "We played with a lot of pride. But it just wasn't our night."\nGrant said he feels the conference tournament experience will be positive motivation for the upcoming national tournament.\n"It's no fun to lose," Grant said. "And a game of this magnitude is even worse. We're one-for-two (on our goals for the season). We've got one left, but that's the big one. Hopefully we see these guys again."\nThe national tournament begins Feb. 28 in Fishers.