Although the Razorbacks did their part to advance by defeating the University of Central Florida by a 6-2 score on Thursday, the team did not have luck on its side.  Both Adrian and Arkansas finished pool play with identical 2-1 records, but the Hogs did not advance because—per the ACHA tie-breaker rules—Adrian allowed fewer goals during pool play than did Arkansas (a two goal differential).  Arkansas therefore ends its season with an overall 31-8-0 record.  Looking back, the season was a memorable one loaded with highlights including a sixteen game win streak, a victory over a nationally ranked Division I opponent, a fifth regular season SEC conference title, a fourth SEC playoff championship, and two victories at Nationals.  Of particular note within that impressive list are (1) the victory over the University of Central Oklahoma, and (2) the National Tournament wins — both are program firsts.

As the season winds down, Arkansas says goodbye to graduating seniors Johnny Stromp (#91), Martin Sundstedt (#24), Justin McDowell (#19), and Tyler Bynum (#10).  For their parts, McDowell and Stromp played for the Razorbacks for five seasons and participated in nearly all of the program’s 132 wins over that span.  Both durable and talented forwards were staples in the Arkansas lineup for years.  Stromp will graduate this spring with a business degree.  McDowell is the only graduate student on the Hogs’ roster and will continue pursuing his degree in counseling.

Sundstedt transferred to Arkansas as a sophomore after a season at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.  In his three years since then, Sundstedt served as both an assistant captain and, this season, co-captain of the Razorbacks.  He is the only player in the SEC who has been twice recognized as conference MVP and, during that same span, has also earned first team all-conference honors.  Sundstedt will graduate with a degree in management.  Bynum finishes his time with the program after three productive seasons.  He joined the Hogs out of the Tulsa Rampage junior program and will graduate this spring with a business degree.

As we say goodbye to four seniors, we are excited to introduce our new recruiting class.   Stay tuned during the off-season for stories about the newest incoming Hogs who will compete for a roster spot in August.  Thank you again to all of our fantastic fans for a memorable season.

Arkansas is still in the hunt for a National Championship.  With UCF’s thrilling overtime win last night, Adrian now has one loss in pool play.  In order to advance,the Hogs must defeat UCF and get a little help from Neumann.  With a UCF loss, the ACHA would go to tournament tie-breakers, which are the following:
1. Head to head
2. Number of wins
3. Fewest goals against
4. Goal differential in all tournament games
5. Fewest penalty minutes
6. Most periods won in pool play
7. Quickest goal recorded on score sheet
8. Coin toss

In tournament play, the Hogs have given up 10 goals.  UCF has given up 7 and Adrian has given up 8.  Roughly translated, the Razorbacks would be best served by beating UCF by 3.  Then, in Neumann’s evening game against Adrian, Neumann must score two though every goal that UCF scores on Arkansas equals a goal that Neumann must score against Adrian.

It’s a big day for the Hogs!  Tune into FastHockey.com to watch the game live at 3:30 pm EST!

From March 11 through March 15, the Razorback Hockey team will compete in the ACHA Division III National Tournament.  Hosted in Coral Springs, Florida, the Hogs will first take on two-time defending National Champion Adrian College.  Adrian enters the tournament having just finished fourth in their conference tournament last weekend.  For its part, Arkansas has not played since February 15 when it dropped a close 3-2 contest to the University of Oklahoma.  The puck drops on March 11 at 6 pm CST.

Then, on March 12, Arkansas will square off against Neumann University at 12:00 pm CST.  Neumann just last weekend earned its second consecutive DVCHC conference title by defeating rival Bryn Athyn in two straight games in their best of three championship series.  The Hogs and Knights have never met.

Finally, on March 13, the Razorbacks will take on the University of Central Florida.  The two teams have met just once—back in the 2011-12 season—when the Hogs earned a 5-2 victory in neutral ice game held in Pelham, AL.  The puck drops in that contest at 2:30 pm CST.

Fans can find more information out about the tournament here and can watch all three contests live on FastHockey.com!

On Saturday, March 1, Arkansas played its final home game as an intra-squad Red-White game.  White defeated Red in front of another great crowd by an 8-5 score.  In other news, the Razorbacks learned the order of their National Tournament pool play.  Placed in Pool D as the number one seed from the Pacific, the Razorbacks will first take on the number four seed from the North—two-time defending National Champion Adrian College—on March 11 at 7:00 pm EST.  The two programs have met just once before; on October 15, 2012, the Bulldogs defeated the Razorbacks by a lopsided 7-1 final score.

The next day, on March 12, the Hogs will square off with the number three seed from the Atlantic Region—Neumann—at 1:00 pm EST.  The two programs have never played one another.  To close pool play, Arkansas will take on the University of Central Florida, the number two seed from the South.  In the two teams’ lone meeting, the Razorbacks defeated the Knights by a 5-2 score on January 29, 2012.

The complete Division III National Tournament schedule is available here.  All of the tournament games will be professionally broadcast on fasthockey.com.

On February 14 & 15, Arkansas took on the University of Oklahoma.  OU, a Division I program, entered the weekend ranked #3 in the nation with an impressive 24-5-3 record.  Amongst their many season accomplishments, OU handed consensus #1 Arizona State its first of only two regular season losses.  Since their games with the Razorbacks, the Sooners have earned the #2 overall seed in the Division I National Championship.

Looking solely at Friday’s score between the Sooners and Razorbacks suggests a significant divide between the two programs.  Despite a competitive first period on Friday, the Sooners took over the hockey game in the second period.  Having scored a pair of goals in the first period, the Sooners added five goals in the second period to enter the third period with a commanding 7-1 lead.  The teams played even in the third period en route to a final 8-2 OU victory.

Saturday night was a different story altogether.  In front of a rowdy sold-out Jones Center crowd, the Sooners again jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first intermission.  Unlike Friday’s contest, though, the balance of the game remained close.  Although the Sooners notched a power play marker in the second period, Arkansas responded with a goal of its own to send the teams into the third frame with OU ahead 3-1.  Things got interesting late in the third period when freshman Jacob Brown buried a pass from sophomore Nick Fontana to make the score 3-2.  Although the Hogs had a handful of late chances, the Sooners earned the victory and weekend sweep.

In addition to a pair of great games, fans were treated on Saturday night to a ceremony honoring graduating seniors Martin Sundstedt, Easton Oliver, Justin McDowell, Johnny Stromp, and Tyler Bynum.  Next up for the Hogs is the Division III National Tournament in Coral Springs, Florida, from March 11-15.  Fans can learn more about the tournament here!

On Saturday night, February 8, Arkansas took on South Carolina — the #3 ranked team in the South. The Hogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, but then played the Gamecocks even in the second frame as both teams potted a pair of goals.  With a 5-2 lead entering the third, the Razorbacks exploded for six goals en route to an 11-2 final and a trip the SEC conference finals.

In the SEC Championship game on Sunday, February 10, Arkansas overcame a one goal deficit by scoring two power play goals in the third period.  The 2-1 victory over the Tide gave the Razorbacks its fourth South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference Playoffs championship in five years.  That first goal was a controversial one.  On a delayed penalty call against the Tide, which turned out to be a ten-minute misconduct, the Razorbacks inadvertently knocked the puck into their own net.  The goal was controversial because a misconduct penalty, when called, results in an immediate stoppage of play rather than, as happened in the game, a delayed penalty.

Fortunately for the Hogs, the erroneous call proved inconsequential.  Trailing 1-0 entering the third period, Forest Mudgett and Marty Sundstedt scored goals two minutes apart and Arkansas held off the Tide throughout the final 6:30 of regulation play.  Kevin Scheer stopped all 25 Alabama shots and was later named tournament MVP for the second straight year.

Sunday’s win was Arkansas’ second consecutive SECHC championship, both at Alabama’s expense in the title game (Arkansas defeated Alabama 8-0 a year ago).  The win also continued the Hogs’ SEC playoff conference winning streak.  Remarkably, the Razorbacks have never lost an SEC playoff game in the four years it has competed in the tournament.

Sunday’s victory improved Arkansas’ record to 29-5-0.  The Razorbacks now await the results of the rankings committee’s vote, which will be released on Friday.  The Hogs have been #1 in the Pacific Region all season long and this most recent trio of wins should solidify its standing.  Arkansas returns home for its final homestand of the 13-14 season when it takes on Division I University of Oklahoma.  The Sooners are the #3 team in the nation at the Division I level and are the only team in the nation to have defeated Arizona State.  The puck drops on Friday at 8:30 pm and on Saturday at 4:00 pm.

On February 7, the Hogs took on the Tennessee IceVols for just the third time in the two programs’ history.  Their prior meetings resulted in two dominant wins by the Razorbacks and Friday night’s result was no different.  Arkansas jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first frame behind goals from Martin Sundstedt, Johnny Stromp, and Forest Mudgett.  The Hogs added six more in the second period behind markers from, among others, Jansen Polk, Tyler Bynum, Marcel Toure.  The team added four more goals in the third period and cruised to a 13-0 final.  Shots were 60-9 in favor of the Razorbacks.   Spencer Mulgrew earned the shutout in net.

Tonight, on February 8, Arkansas faces a stiffer test in South Carolina—the #3 ranked team in the South Region.  South Carolina enters the contest with an impressive 20-6-2 overall record, featuring wins over Central Florida (#1 South), Alabama (#5 South), Mississippi (#6 South), and UNC-Wilmington (#11 South).  The Gamecocks are led in scoring by Eric Patterson (20 G, 10 A), Kevin Cotrone (13 G, 6 A), and Michael Kochenash (11 G, 14 A).  John Musciano handles the bulk of the goaltending duties for South Carolina.

The puck drops tonight at 7:00 pm CST and it will be audio broadcast live.  The broadcast can be heard online by visiting this link:  www.spreaker.com/show/frozentide or by going to bamahockey.com and clicking on “Broadcast”.  The broadcast will begin five minutes prior to the advertised start time, although the times may be adjusted throughout the tournament due to previous games being played on the same rink.

On Friday, February 7, the Razorbacks will take on the Tennessee Ice Vols in the first round of the SECHC conference playoffs.  The Hogs enter the contest as the #1 seed in the West after having finished with an undefeated regular season conference record.  Sporting a 26-5-0 overall record, the Razorbacks seek to defend the conference title they earned last season by rolling through the 2012-13 tournament field, defeating Vanderbilt in round 1 by a score of 7-1, followed by blowout wins over Florida (7-1) and Alabama (8-0).

For its part, Tennessee earned the first ever SECHC playoff championship in 2008.  They enter this year’s tournament with a 7-15-0 overall record.  The Ice Vols completed their regular season last weekend, notching a 5-4 victory over Vanderbilt.  Tennessee has also earned wins throughout the season over Elon, Georgia Tech, Georgia, and an early season sweep of Palm Beach State College.  The Ice Vols are led in scoring by Jacob Favory, who enters the tournament with seventeen goals.  Mike Mieling and Ben Deepan have split the goaltending duties for Tennessee throughout the season.

The two programs have met just twice before.  Tennessee and Arkansas squared off on October 15, 2010 when the Hogs cruised to a 13-2 victory.  The following season, the two teams met again—this time on January 28, 2012–when Arkansas again dominated Tennessee en route to a 15-1 victory.  The programs have never met in the conference playoffs.

The puck drops tomorrow at 9:30 pm CST at the Pelham Civic Complex.  The Pelham Civic Complex is located at 500 Amphitheater Rd, Pelham, AL 35124.  Daily Ticket Prices, good for all games each day, are as follows:

$10 for adults
$7 for students with student ID
$7 for military (active duty, Guard, Reserve and retired with ID)
Children 5-and-under are admitted free.
$25 for Weekend Pass, good for all games, all 3-days

There are no advanced ticket sales.

2014 SECHC Tournament Broadcast Schedule

Day 1 February 7, 2014

Alabama vs. Vanderbilt 7:00 PM

Auburn vs. Florida 9:45 PM

Day 2 February 8, 2014

5th Place Game 3:15 PM

Semi-Final 1 7:00 PM

Semi-Final 2 9:50 PM

Day 3 February 9, 2014

Third Place Game 11:30 AM

Championship Game 2:30 PM

 

This is the audio broadcast schedule for the 2014 SECHC Tournament in Pelham, AL. The broadcast can be heard online by visiting this link:

www.spreaker.com/show/frozentide or by going to bamahockey.com and clicking on “Broadcast”.

The broadcasts will be led by play-by-play Voice of the Alabama Frozen Tide, Kendall Grayson who broadcasted every home and away game for the team this season. Also on the broadcasts will be Alabama Frozen Tide Color Analysts Taylor Guzy and Patrick Norwood. Kendall and Taylor broadcasted the 2013 SECHC Championship game and Kendall also served as play-by-play broadcaster at the 2013 ACHA Division III National Championship Tournament in Springfield, MO.

*The broadcasts will begin 5 minutes prior to the advertised start time, however the times may be adjusted throughout the tournament due to previous games being played on the same rink. All Times Central

The Razorback Hockey team recently entered into an agreement with the Jones Center for Families, its home rink, to create a permanent lockerroom space for the team.  The team was established in 2007 and, since 2009, it has enjoyed phenomenal success—winning the Southeastern Collegiate Hockey Conference post-season playoff tournament three times and the regular season SEC-West conference championship five times.  In the team’s short history, it has appeared at Nationals (09-10), made three appearances at the South Regional tournament (09-10, 10-11, 12-13), and is consistently ranked in the top ten regionally during the regular season.  To date, the team since 2009 has an overall record of 127-35-2.

As it closes down this 2013-14 regular season, the team finishes with a 26-5-0 record and enters the SEC post-season conference tournament as the #1 seed in the West.  In a season loaded with highlights, the team was—for the first time—ranked #1 in the Pacific Region throughout the year.  Among other highlights, it knocked off a top-10 Division I opponent and was regularly featured in the local media (you might enjoy reviewing a few stories here and here).

We now need your help!  Spread the word and visit https://onlinegiving.uark.edu/ to give! Please put “UREC Ice Hockey Club Locker Room” into the “Specific Department, Program or Fund” field.  If you would like to speak to someone individually about the project, please contact Development Manager Beth Saviers at bsaviers@uark.edu or 469-575-4759 for more information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aJh7d3UIOw