Photo Courtesy @the_anthonydasilva on Instagram
BY: AIDAN SHINNERS, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure Division I club hockey season has come to an end following the AAU College Hockey National Championship tournament that took place from March 5-7.
The 16 qualified teams were placed into four separate round-robin pools where the highest-placing team in each would earn a spot in the top four tournament. The Bonnies were placed in Group B, set to face Auburn University, the University of Tampa and Fairfield University.
In their first matchup, the Bonnies fell to Fairfield by a score of 4-3. Bonaventure took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission but allowed two powerplay goals in the final period. In game two, the Bonnies managed to knock off Auburn by a score of 9-1 including goals from eight different players. Graduate forward Jake Spina scored two of the goals for Bonaventure.
Entering the final game of pool play, against the tournament’s second seed Tampa, the Bonnies not only needed to win but they needed to win by three goals to continue their season in a national championship semi-final.
Bonaventure allowed two goals in the first period. Tampa scored on a power play and also scored shorthanded to enter the first break up 2-0. Bonnies senior forward Samuel Cichowski and junior forward Tyler Menz brought the game back in the second, tying the score up at two heading into the final intermission. Tampa’s Cole Vallese scored the eventual game-winning goal with just under three minutes remaining to push Tampa to the semi-finals. Tampa would eventually go on to be crowned the AAU College Hockey National Champions.
The Bonnies finished their season 14-11-1. Sophomore forward Michael Clouden led the team with 16 goals this season. Following shortly behind him were junior forward Tyler Menz with 10 and senior captain Owen Hughes who scored 13. Hughes led the team with 21 assists as well as 34 points. Clouden was close behind in the point category with 33, tallying 17 assists. On defense, sophomore Miles Brown led the team in all categories scoring two goals and adding 10 assists to give him 12 points.
Goaltending duties were split this season between junior Kyle Karoleski, who played in 11 regular season games as well as in the AAU National Championship tournament and sophomore Tyler Kirk who made seven appearances in the regular season. Kirk had a goals-against average of 2.43 and a save percentage of 0.892 while Karoleski managed a 3.00 GAA with a .897 save percentage. The tandem combined for three shutouts on the season.
Next season’s schedule is still yet to be released, but the 2025-26 will begin in early October 2025 when the Bonnies look to qualify for the AAU College Hockey National Championship tournament once again.
