BOX SCORE

St. LOUIS, Mo. – The Calvin ACHA D3 hockey team dropped a 3-2 decision to Grand Valley State in heartbreaking fashion Monday morning in the semifinals of the ACHA D3 National Tournament.

Grand Valley State scored the game-winning goal with just 1:12 remaining after the Knights had tied the game 2-2 on a goal by sophomore Myles Radersma with 4:19 left to play.

The two conference rivals went without a goal in the opening period but Grand Valley got on the board nine minutes into the second period when Noah Foucha tucked in a shot inside the far post off a rebound to make it 1-0.

Calvin tied the game 1-1 with 2:29 left in the second as a lead pass sprung junior Christopher Bebelos on a break through the middle. GVSU goaltender Bobby Masters attempted to beat Bebelos to the puck but Bebelos won the race, slipped around Masters and slipped a shot into a wide-open net with seniors Avery Andersen and Nathan Rublein drawing assists on the play.

Grand Valley netted a go-ahead goal 3:17 into the third period as a shot by Jake Lamm found the back of the net.

With time ticking down, Radersma came up with a clutch play, moving in and out of a pair of defenders as he crossed into the attacking zone. Skating through the left wing, his smacked a right-handed shot that found the top shelf of the goal and tied the game 2-2, giving the Knights a lifeline and a huge boost of momentum. Bebelos and sophomore Owen Duiker picked up assists on the play for Calvin.

Grand Valley refused to back down however as swarmed the Calvin goal in the closing two minutes and finally found the back of the net when a rebound shot off an initial save by Calvin junior goaltender Garrett Walker fell to Steve Meyers who flipped the rebound up and over a sprawled out Walker and into the net.

Calvin had one last chance in the closing seconds but a shot on a rush through the center of the ice sailed just wide of the post, allowing Grand Valley State to claim the dramatic win.

Calvin finished with a 31-28 shots at goal advantage with Walker recording 28 saves in goal for the Knights.

Calvin concludes its season with a 22-9-1 overall record, a six-win improvement over its 16-14-0 mark from the year before. Calvin's advancement to the national semifinals was its highest finish since the 2016-17 season when the Knights reached the ACHA D3 National Championship final.  The 2016-17 season was Calvin's final season as a lone ACHA D3 program on campus. The following year, Calvin's D3 team made the move up to (ACHA) D1 with its D3 program rebooting from scratch.

COACHES COMMENT: "Really proud of this group for what it accomplished this year," said Calvin head coach Austin Huizenga. "If you told people at the beginning of the year we would be here, I'm not sure many people would have believed it. In the end, it was a really good back and forth game and the result came down to a bouncing puck goal. Congrats to GVSU. They've had a great season. I'd also like to thank our seniors. They had some tough moments in their 4-5 years here as this (D3 program) has been rebuilt after the Calvin hockey program decided to go to two (D1 and D3) teams. While this loss is sour at the moment, I hope our guys will cherish the run we went on."