Gettysburg entered the MDCHA playoffs with the hopes of repeating their performance of last season. The playoffs seemed to be setting up the same way and the Bullets were hoping that history would repeat itself. The first up this year was Dickinson.

The game turned out to be everything a Dickinson and Gettysburg game brought. High intensity, lots of chances and lots of screaming fans. It was a back and forth battle for much of the first period until, midway through the period when Gettysburg was on the power play. Junior Ryan Flanagan fed a pass to freshman Will Worthy who buried a shot past the Dickinson net minder. Senior goaltender Cory Waldron kept the Red Devils at bay as the teams went in to the intermission with only the one goal difference.

Gettysburg knew that the one goal would not be enough to beat the fiery Dickinson team and would need to put up some more goals if they wanted to come out on top. Sure enough midway through a penalty-filled period there was a break down in the Bullets' zone and Dickinson capitalized to tie the game at one. That would be how this period ended and the teams would be tied going in to the final frame.

Gettysburg turned it on in the third period and under two minutes in, freshman Jon O'Hara fed the point and sophomore Brad Zanoni ripped a wrist shot that went past the Dickinson netminder to take the lead once again. But the rivalry game did not disappoint as Gettysburg found themselves down a man late in the period. Dickinson utilized this man advantage and tied the game once again. On the very next shift the Bullets took the draw and blazed in to the Dickinson zone and Worthy hit sophomore Eddie Rupp with a pass who buried it off the should of the goaltender to regain the lead.

As time was winding down Dickinson pulled their net minder and tried everything to get the puck past Waldron. But it was Rupp once again who broke out of the Bullets' zone and dangled past the final defender and filled the empty net. This secured the victory and now the Bullet's moved on to play against Catholic University in the next round.

Gettysburg had lost to Catholic a few weeks ago and were looking for a little revenge on the ice. The game did not start the way Gburg had hoped. They started slow and did not get that many chances. It was Catholic who struck first by sneaking a shot past Waldron on a rebound. Gettysburg really needed to step up their game and they did just that. As Flanagan took control from the point. He tallied twice in a matter of minutes to give the Bullets the first lead of the game. With five minutes remaining in the period Gettysburg was on the powerplay and Rupp pulled out some of his tricks from last game and took a pass from Flanagan and senior captain Phil Deyette to make it a two goal game. A minute later Gettysburg kept it up with sophomore Michael Schopp who had been in a drought lately but made up for it in this period. He first took it in to the Catholic zone and wristed one past the Catholic goaltender top shelf. With a minute remaining in the period Schopp intercepted a pass from the Catholic goaltender and turned to fire it in to the open net to give the Bullets a comfortable 5-1 lead at the end of the first period.

However this lead was too comfortable. The Gettysburg team after the first period almost completely shut down offensively. In the second period they began to get frustrated and took some penalties. They could not get back in to the rhythm of the first period and surrendered two goals to make it 5-3 at the end of two periods. The struggle continued in the third. Perhaps the fatigue of the late night game the night before had been catching up with the Bullets, but whatever it was they were not getting back in to the game. They gave up two powerplay goals in the third and Catholic had now tied the game at 5. Then with a minute remaining a shot was blocked by Catholic and they walked in alone and beat Waldron to take the lead. Despite final minute efforts the Bullets were not able to get the goal back and their season ended with a 6-5 loss.

We would like to wish congratulations to the seniors, Cory Waldron and Phil Deyette and wish them the best of luck on their future after Gettysburg. We would also like to congratulate coach Hinkle who has been elected commissioner of the MDCHA. Although he will be missed at Gburg, we know he will do a great job as commissioner. Thank you to all our fans for their support and hope to see you again next year.

Pictures coming soon to the Media Page