Hoosiers fall short of national title

It was supposed to be the IU hockey team's year.\nThis year's Hoosiers had everything: speed, depth, goaltending and special teams. And they had experience in the form of nine seniors. If any group had the chance to win an American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship, this was the one.\nInstead, IU suffered a 7-6 loss to Life University in the semifinals of the 2002 ACHA Division II National Championships in New York City. \n"We had a great season. But we had one goal all year: to win the national championship," said leading scorer Bryan Grant, who picked up two goals in the season-ending defeat. "It's disappointing that it didn't happen. We played one of our better games all year, but I guess the better team won.\n"They must have been the better team, because we played as well as we could."\nThe Hoosiers had a close call last Friday as Michigan State nearly eliminated them from the tournament. After the Spartans' surprising 14-7 loss to Colorado State Thursday, the Hoosiers needed to limit Michigan State to less than 10 goals to advance to the semifinals. \nIU accomplished that feat but lost 8-3. Hoosier goaltenders Charlie Pulley and Chad Whitlock each gave up four goals.\n"How you give up eight goals on 20 shots, I'm not sure," Holdeman said. "But we did what we had to do, so I'm not making too big a deal out of that game."\nSaturday was a different story as the Hoosiers faced defending-champion Life University. IU led the Running Eagles 4-3 heading into the third period on a pair of goals by Grant.\nBut a defensive breakdown led to two Life goals in the first three minute of the period, summarizing a weekend of defensive gaffes for the inconsistent Hoosier backliners.\n"We go from allowing two-and-a-half goals a game in the regular season to five-and-a-quarter in the tournament," assistant coach Alex Kyrias said. "Our penalty killing goes from 80 percent to 57 percent. That's just not going to get it done. We didn't get much help from all aspects of our defense. That's ultimately what lost it for us."\nThe Hoosiers battled back and tied the game when sophomore David Dassell capitalized on a setup by teammate Ed Karasek. The goal appeared to revive the Hoosiers, but Life took the lead with just less than two minutes left in the game.\nIn an attempt for a tie, Holdeman tried to pull his goaltender, Pulley, in exchange for an extra attacker, but a bad giveaway during the change gave the Running Eagles an empty-net goal.\nLife went on to beat Michigan 5-2 for their fifth ACHA title in six years.\nThe Hoosiers tied the team record with 24 victories on the season and won the first-ever Great Midwest Hockey League Championship two weeks ago. \n"I'm happy because we had a great year, tying the win record and winning the conference," Grant said. "But we came up short, and we're pretty disappointed right now"