Three weeks after the men’s hockey team’s trip to the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I National Tournament in St. Louis, the team is already thinking about improving its performance next season.
The Pride reached the tournament’s quarterfinal round before being eliminated. It was their first national tournament berth after winning the conference championship. Pride team captain Andrew Remer saw the tournament as a chance to make some more noise.
“For us, it was business as usual,” he said. “Try to go and win a couple more hockey games and see where we could put ourselves.”
The Pride opened tournament play against 22-ranked Indiana University of Pennsylvania on March 7. After an 11-3 victory, which was the first national tournament win in PNW hockey history, the rest of the field took notice of the new kids on the block.
“That game against Indiana Pennsylvania opened some eyes,” Remer said. “Not only our guys but some teams around the tournament.”
Remer finished the tournament opener against Indiana Pennsylvania with five points – three goals and a pair of assists.
Next up was 6-ranked Maryville University on March 9, with the Pride once again taking care of business, this time with a 3-2 victory. Remer finished that contest with two more assists to raise his tournament total to seven points.
That elevated Purdue Northwest into the quarterfinals, a member of the tournament’s elite eight. It was a position they could only dream of just a few years ago.
“Two short seasons at this level, we’ve come a much longer way than I’ll admit, any of us ever thought we would,” Remer said. “I think the expectation was definitely that we could make a run, I just don’t know if we thought it would happen this quickly.”
On March 10, Remer and his teammates would suit up for their third and final opponent of the weekend, 3-ranked University of Central Oklahoma. Though the team played tough, the Pride lost 3-1.
While the main goal of lifting a national trophy was not accomplished, Remer was still thrilled about the tournament.
“Beyond the hockey, it was an awesome experience,” he said. “It is the cool part about hockey. The things off the ice, out of the weight room… It makes me very happy with my decision to come back to the team. It was an awesome week.”
Remer has played for many talented teams in his youth, junior and collegiate years. But he said this year has been his favorite season.
“This was the most enjoyable hockey season I have had in my entire hockey career,” he said. “Short of winning nationals, we did just about everything else a team can do. There were lows, there were highs, there were times where we weren’t sure where we were going to end up, and then there were times where we felt like world beaters.”
Shortly after the conclusion of the national tournament, the ACHA released their final team rankings of the hockey season. PNW was slotted at seventh – the highest national ranking in program history.
“Having a season like this created some building blocks to work off of and set us up going forward as a team that people are not going to overlook,” Remer said. “Nationals would’ve been a cool one to win, but I have full confidence that this group can and will be back.”
