In the off season Gettysburg received numerous invitations to tournaments with other teams in the ACHA. The Bullets agreed to four tournaments in the hopes of expanding their competition, the first of which was this past weekend in Altoona, PA. Gburg would begin the tournament against the host team, Penn State Altoona.

Gettysburg played Penn State Altoona last season and suffered a heart-breaking loss in overtime 4-3 on family weekend. They were hoping to seek a little revenge by beating them in the first game of the tournament. The game started great for the Bullets as on the first shift of the game, Freshman Matt Simeoni took the puck in to the zone and beat the goaltender on the first shot of the game. However, two minutes later Gettysburg would give the goal back and PSU Altoona beat Junior goaltender Cory Waldron to tie the game at one. Gettysburg came right back and scored three more before the end of the period on goals by Senior Luke Archambault, Sophomore Craig Sullivan, and Simeoni netted his second of the game. After the first period Gettysburg had a commanding lead of 4-1.

Gettysburg would keep it on as Archambault would get his second of the game on the powerplay, increasing the lead to 5-1. However, Gettysburg began the game with a very short bench due to injuries as they were missing a number of key players. After Gettysburg's fifth goal, the fatigue of a short bench would catch up with them. Penn State Altoona would score three unanswered goals, all on the powerplay. Before they knew it Gettysburg would head in to the third period with only a 5-4 lead.

That lead would slip quickly as once again on the powerplay PSU would tie the game only three minutes in to the period. Gettysburg's grip on the game was slipping and two minutes after the game was tied, the Bullets lost the lead as Altoona scored their fifth goal in a row. Even though they had a short bench, Gettysburg was embarrassed by how they had lost the lead and were determined to get it back. With four minutes remaining in the game Senior captain Jackson Ferguson, scored on a pass from Luke Archambault while the Bullets were short handed and tied the game at six. As it looked like history would repeat itself and Gettysburg and PSU would go to overtime. However, with a minute and a half remaining PSU Altoona would take a shot from the point that beat goaltender Waldron for the seventh and final goal of the game, as the Bullets lost their first game of the tournament, 7-6.

Even with the loss, Gettysburg knew they still had a chance to take first place in the tournament but would have to win the rest of their games. The next game would be against the University of Pittsburgh DIII. This would be the first of two games on Saturday and Gettysburg knew they had a long day ahead of them. But once again Gettysburg wasted little time going ahead as Junior Dave Frascarelli, took a pass from Freshman Eddie Rupp and Sophomore Mark Bouchard and scored the first goal of the game. The same combo of Frascarelli, Rupp, and Bouchard added the second goal only five minutes later and Gettysburg lead by two. Gettysburg would not make the same mistake and would dominate the whole game and went on to win 7-3 against Pitt. Scoring goals for the Bullets was Freshman Matt Incledon, Archambault, Junior Phil Deyette added two, and Rupp got a goal of his own to complete his four point game.

The third game of the tournament was against SUNY Fredonia, a new team that Gettysburg knew nothing about. It would turn out this was the best team of the tournament. Fredonia jumped out to the lead by slipping two powerplay goals past Senior goaltender Rich Sommerkorn in the first period. From there the officiating only got worse. Both teams suffered by the poor officiating as calls were missed and a few new calls were invented. Midway through the second a controversial call resulted in two players for Gettysburg and two players from Fredonia suspended from the game. Now with an even shorter bench Gettysburg knew they would have to work that much harder. But Fredonia would once again strike before the end of the second period and take a 3-0 lead in to the third.

In the final period Gettysburg struck first as Junior Asa Hunter scored on a shot from along the boards, with the hopes to claw back in to the game, despite the continuing of poor officiating. But another powerplay goal for Fredonia would almost seal Gettysburg's fate. Gettysburg would add another goal with little time left as Hunter again would tip a shot from the point, but it was too little too late and Gettysburg fell 5-2. After the game both coaches agreed this was the worst officiated game either had ever seen.

Although Gettysburg's chances of winning the tournament were eliminated they had one more game against Virginia Commonwealth University. Gettysburg would give up the first goal and once again it was a powerplay goal. VCU had not won a game in the tournament and the Bullets did not want to be their only win of the tournament. Gettysburg picked it up and scored the next five goals. Captain Ferguson had two of the goals and Simeoni also added two and Sullivan completed the win for the Bullets.

Overall the Bullets did well considering they were missing a few players. Gettysburg will take a week off and resume against newcomer to the Mason Dixon league, Alvernia on October 13, in Reading, PA.