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2007-2008 Team Awards Dinner Held
March 3, 2008
At the annual Team Awards Dinner held at the Doris Duke Center, the Blue Devils continued the team tradition of presenting special awards,
with members of the team voting to name the recipients. The award winners for the 2007-2008 season are:
Most Valuable Player -- Kevin Hatala, '09
Most Improved Player -- Yu Tanebe, '09
Rookie of the Year -- Andy Kleist, '11
Coaches' Award -- Chris Baker, '10
Blue Devil Award -- Jared Smith, '09
Roald Llado Best Defensive Forward Award -- Dan Phan, '08
Luke Wolin Best Defenseman Award -- Kyle Silver, '08
Charlie Schaeffer Gumby Award -- Nick Bruns, '11
Again, the Blue Devils would like to thank the Booster Club for organizing the awards banquet and for all of its efforts throughout the year. Duke Hockey would also like to thank Paul Kartcheske for allowing the team to use the Doris Duke Center.
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Devils Come Up Just Short
February 25, 2008
This year's ACCHL playoffs were all too familiar for the Blue Devils. On Saturday afternoon, Duke faced Virginia Tech; the same team that the Blue Devils had defeated in the semifinals the past two years. Despite being down 1-0 and 2-1, the Blue Devils never stopped battling and were able to force a sudden death overtime. About halfway through the overtime period, Mike Lehrhoff redirected a shot up and over the Hokie netminder's shoulder into the back of the net and was immediately swarmed by his teammates.
In the championship game, the Blue Devils were matched up against Georgetown for the second year in a row. Georgetown went up 1-0 on a first period goal, but Marc Perez scored early in the second to tie the game. Midway through the third period, Jared Smith put the Blue Devils ahead 2-1, and it looked as if the Blue Devils would get revenge for last year's loss. It was not to be, however, as Georgetown scored a late powerplay goal to send the game to overtime, then scored with a few minutes remaining in the overtime period to win the championship and send the Blue Devils home as runners-up for the second consecutive year.
The Blue Devils would like to thank their parents for their support at the tournament and throughout the year. They would also like to thank the Booster Club, especially the Wests and the Hatalas for all of their help. Finally, the Blue Devils would like to thank this year's seniors for four great years and would like to wish them the best of luck next year!
Check back over the summer for updates about the 2008-2009 season! |
Duke Splits Regular Season Title, Earns Bye
February 20, 2008
Dukehockey.com would like to congratulate the Blue Devils for being ACCHL Regular Season Co-Champions. After posting a 9-3-0-0 league record, Duke finished tied with Georgetown, but by virtue of their better overall win percentage, the Devils earned the first round bye in the playoffs.
The Blue Devils will play their first playoff game at either 2 pm or 6 pm on Saturday at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, VA. More playoff information can be found at the Civic Center Website.
We hope to see you this weekend! Go Devils!
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Duke Players Honored by the ACCHL
February 17, 2008
After an extremely strong season, freshman goaltender Andy Kleist was honored with the ACCHL Goalie of the Year. In several key league victories, Kleist's solid play and acrobatic saves kept the Blue Devils in the game. The league has also honored junior defenseman Kevin Hatala as the runner-up for the Defensemen of the Year award.
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Duke Splits Weekend in D.C.
February 17, 2008
This past weekend, Duke travelled to Washington, D.C. to close out their regular season play. The Blue Devils dropped their Friday night contest to Georgetown 1-0 on a mid-third period goal. Although the loss was disappointing, the Blue Devils were buoyed by the fact that they only lost to a top team in the league 1-0 while missing top scorers Jared Smith and Brian Lake. The next night, however, the Blue Devils bounced back and beat George Mason 6-1.
Check back soon for ACCHL playoff information!
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Duke Drops Heartbreaker to Rival UNC
February 5,2008
It just was not the Blue Devils' night. Despite rallying from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead, the Blue Devils could not pull out the victory against rival UNC owing to terrible bounces and a passionate effort on the part of the Tar Heels. It made sense, therefore, that the pucks hopping over Blue Devils' sticks, taking odd caroms off the boards, and generally bouncing strangely would eventually become more costly for the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils lost the lead on a fluke shot that fluttered in and lost the game on a shot that ricocheted off a knee and a skate into the back of the Blue Devils' net.
The Blue Devils wrap up their regular season this weekend in Washington, D.C. against Georgetown and George Mason, two games with playoff-seeding implications for the Blue Devils.
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Coach Selman to be Honored at ACCHL Tournament
January 31,2008
At this season's year-end tournament, Coach Brent Selman will receive an award for his "Lifetime Commitment to College Hockey." Congratulations Coach!
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Season's Final Game at Triangle Sportsplex
January 28, 2008
This Saturday at 4:15, the Blue Devils take on rival UNC at Triangle Sportsplex. The game is the seniors' final game at Triangle Sportsplex. Be sure to come support the Blue Devils in this critical ACCHL contest.
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ACCHL Tournament Information
January 28, 2008
This year's ACCHL tournament will be hosted by Virginia Tech at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, VA.
Although the schedule is contingent on the final ACCHL regular season standings, the game times are:
Friday at 4, 7, and 10 PM, Saturday at 2 and 6 PM, and Sunday and 2 PM.
The team that finishes in first place in the regular season will receive a first-round bye, and the tournament is played with a single-elimination format. f
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Devils Drop Close Games on Road Trip
January 28, 2008
This past weekend the Blue Devils traveled to Philadelphia, PA and Wayne, NJ to take on regionally ranked opponents Temple and William Patterson.
After arriving late to the rink on Friday night, the Blue Devils were able to weather a first period storm from Temple due mostly to outstanding goaltending from Andrew Kleist. After regrouping in the locker room between periods, the Blue Devils dominated the second and played the Owls' even in the third. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils were only able to beat the Temple netminder once and lost 2-1.
The next night, the Blue Devils continued their stellar defense and goaltending shutting down the William Patterson offense for most of the game. Unfortunately midway through the third period, the Blue Devils lapsed defensively, surrendering two quick goals swinging the momentum and flow of the game in favor of William Patterson. Duke continued to battle, and with a few minutes left in the game, Jared Smith was finally able to beat the Pioneer's netminder, but it was too little too late; Duke lost 3-1.
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IMPORTANT ALUMNI GAME ANNOUNCEMENT
January 24, 2008
The date of the Duke Hockey Alumni Game has been changed! The game will now be played Saturday, March 1st at 4:15 pm at Triangle Sportsplex. Please contact aaron.lerner@duke.edu if you are interested in playing!
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Duke Downs Georgetown
January 20, 2008
Last season, Georgetown defeated Duke three times, including in the league championship game, and ever since, the Blue Devils have been itching for revenge. The Blue Devils' 2-1 victory over the Hoyas last night, satisfies part of that desire. It also puts the Blue Devils on the inside track for winning the ACCHL regular season, a feat last accomplished in the 2005-2006 campaign.
The Blue Devils opened the scoring relatively early in the first when Brandon Jenkins tapped the puck in after the Georgetown netminder had barely gotten a piece of an Aaron Lerner shot. If possible, the pace of the game increased after Duke tallied first. Georgetown stepped up the physical play, and Duke, led by Kyle Silver's thunderous hits, was equal to the task. The first period ended with Duke up 1-0, but Georgetown easily could have scored several times if not for numerous incredible saves from freshman netminder Andy Kleist.
Georgetown was finally able to crack the Blue Devil defense midway through the second period when a Georgetown forward deflected a shot from the point into the back of the net. Minutes earlier, goaltender Andy Kleist had come up huge, diving across the mouth of the net to stop a scoring chance that the Georgetown players were already celebrating. Duke needed a spark, and it came in the form of a high-pressure, high-energy shift from the Lake-Smith-Perez line, who buzzed the Georgetown net and generated several quick scoring chances. Feeding off the energy, the reinvigorated Blue Devils stepped up their play and were rewarded when Nic Olson banged the puck home after going hard to the net, putting the Blue Devils up 2-1.
The third period was played at the same intensity level as the first two, and the Blue Devils were up to the charge. Even though Georgetown was double-shifting its top line players, the entire Duke team, both forwards and defenders, was defensively accountable and worked hard to chip pucks out of the defensive zone and to decrease Georgetown's time and space with the puck. For a third period in a row, Andy Kleist made some spectacular saves to preserve the victory for the Blue Devils. When the final buzzer sounded with the score Duke 2, Georgetown 1, the Blue Devils lept onto the ice with the weight of last year's losses finally starting to lift.
Next weekend, the Blue Devils travel north to face regionally ranked Temple and William Patterson.
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Duke Captures Canes' Cup
January 14, 2008
In their first game back from Winter Break, the Blue Devils faced Virginia Tech in the opening game of the Canes Cup. After regulation and overtime did not yield a winner, the game went to a shootout. The Blue Devils won the shootout 3-2 behind goals from Kevin Hatala, Marc Perez, and Kyle Silver and stellar saves from netminder Steve Galanis.
In the second game of the Canes' Cup, the Blue Devils faced Rhode Island College. While dominating the game, the Devils were only able to find the back of the net twice. Two goals, however, proved enough to best the Anchormen since Andy Kleist made several key saves including stopping a breakaway in the last ten seconds of the game.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils found themselves in a familiar situation: playing NC State, needing a win to take home the Canes' Cup. This year, however, history fortunately did not repeat itself. Behind an excellent offensive performance from newly-formed line Marc Perez, Brian Lake, and Jared Smith, the Devils triumphed 6-5 to take home their first Canes' Cup in five years. |
The game summaries for the 2007 Fall Semester can be found here. |
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Please
email Aaron Lerner at aaron.lerner@duke.edu if you have
any questions about Duke Hockey. |
View the updated 2007-2008 Statistics (Jan. 31) |
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