West Virginia, John Carroll Win Big to Advance to CHMA Championship
- Edward Major II
- Feb 21
- 3 min read
MORGANTOWN, Wv. – West Virginia and John Carroll each used high-scoring outings to move on in the 2026 College Hockey Mid-America playoffs Saturday, February 21 at Hope Gas Ice Pavilion at Mylan Park.
Behind another stellar outing from Mountaineers goaltender Wyatt Sloetjes and enough offense from John Carroll to outlast a Kent State comeback attempt, the championship battle for Sunday is set for 2:30 p.m. with a trip to the national tournament on the line.
Saturday Semifinal #1: West Virginia 7, IUP 2
West Virginia picked up on Saturday where they left off on Friday. A four-goal third period led by Leonard Haban, who scored two goals, pushed the #4 West Virginia Mountaineers over the top-seeded IUP Crimson Hawks, 7-2, Saturday afternoon.
Haban kept his senior season alive with emphatic insurance goals to punch the Mountaineers’ ticket to championship Sunday. It was a different perspective than Friday’s quarterfinal. Instead of finding themselves down 3-2, West Virginia was on the higher end of a 3-2 score headed into the third period.
Thomas Carron opened the scoring for West Virginia midway through the first to tie the Mountaineers an early lead. It was in stark contrast to their quarterfinal game Friday, where they played from behind for most of the first two periods.
The second period was more high-powered. Jace Rearic tied the game for the Hawks 1-1 with a power play goal just 47 seconds into the frame. Carron responded at the 6:51 mark of the period with his second of the game to give the Mountaineers the lead again, before Tommy Woods added a goal of his own to extend the West Virginia lead, 3-1.
But the Hawks weren’t going away quietly. Caleb Hoffman put another one past Mountaineer goaltender Sloetjes with less than two minutes to play in the period to trim the West Virginia lead to 3-2. But it was all they could muster before Sloetjes tightened up and the Mountaineer offense went on a tear. For the first time since 2022, IUP will not be playing in the conference championship game.
Sloetjes ended up saving 29 out of 31 shots for his second win in as many days. IUP counterpart Braxton Singleton saved 39 out of 46 in the loss.
Saturday Semifinal #2: John Carroll 8, Kent State 5
Unfortunately for Kent State, the Golden Flashes couldn’t replicate their Friday victory on Saturday. The #2 John Carroll Blue Streaks used a 5-goal third period to outlast a #3 Kent State comeback attempt, defeating the Golden Flashes 8-5 Saturday night to punch their ticket to the CHMA Championship Sunday against West Virginia.
Tied 3-3 heading into the final frame, the momentum appeared to be firmly on the side of the Golden Flashes. After John Carroll jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes courtesy of Colin Cronin, Tanner Plinta, and Sean Deakin, Kent State clawed their way back. Bryson Miller and Jules Jardine both scored in the final minutes of the first to cut the deficit to one, and Kornel Kaibas tied the game 3-3 in the second period, splitting two defenders to beat John Carroll’s Jack Zuchlewski glove-side.
The tide had seemingly turned, making it the Golden Flashes’ game to lose. Instead, John Carroll made it their game to win.
The Blue Streaks reclaimed the lead just 32 seconds into the third period as Cronin notched his second of the night. Just over a minute later, Deakin joined the multi-goal club to make it 5-3. As the lead grew, so did the intensity. A game that had been physical from the puck drop reached a boiling point after a Kent State high-sticking minor led to a Zach Zemrac power-play goal.
The definitive blow came at 7:17 of the third when Kent State’s Bryce Kolpien was assessed a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for a violent boarding penalty in the offensive zone. John Carroll wasted no time, as Anthony Lagreca capitalized on the major just nine seconds into the man advantage.
While Kent State showed late signs of life with a shorthanded goal from Cole Bianchin and a power-play tally from Jules Jardine, the mountain was too high to climb. Austin Malley ended any hope of a miracle with an empty-netter from center ice, sealing the 8-5 win and a date with the West Virginia Mountaineers for the conference championship Sunday afternoon.
Kent State goaltender Kyle Bartlett made 30 saves on 37 shots in the loss, while John Carroll goaltender Jack Zuchlewski made 37 saves on 42 shots for the victory.
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