It was a remarkable year for the Lindenwood athletic program in 2009-10. Over the next 10 weeks, www.lindenwoodlions.com will bring you the top 10 moments of the last school year.

The No. 2 moment comes from the Lindenwood hockey programs and its Triple Crown of national championships.
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As the summer is coming to a close and a new athletic season arrives, lindenwoodlions.com continues to countdown the top 10 moments of the 2009-10 athletic year. We have reached the No. 2 moment and it comes from a trio of teams.

The Lindenwood hockey program as a whole has become a national powerhouse on the ice and the court over the years. Coming into 2009 the Lindenwood men's ice hockey, women's ice hockey and roller hockey had won 15 national championships in nine years. But one thing has not happened until 2009-10. For the first time, all three programs were crowned national champions, pulling off the hockey “triple crown.” The three programs combined for an amazing 113-8-3 record in 2009-10.

“It was a great feeling to have the triple crown happen,” head women's ice hockey coach Vince O'Mara said. “We had talked about the possibility of it happening a couple of years prior, but to have these three teams accomplish that was a great feeling for everyone involved.”

“I think there is a huge sense of pride for all of the hockey teams at LU,” head roller hockey coach Ron Beilsten said. “It is a great reflection of the dedication of the school and players to our hockey programs."

The No. 2 moment will take a look back at each team's run to the national championship.

Women's Ice Hockey
Coming into the 2009-10 season the Lindenwood Lady Lions hockey team was once again the team everyone was chasing. The previous year Lindenwood won its second straight national championship and every team was out to dethrone the Lady Lions.

The season started out with a bang for the Lady Lions winning their first 10 games and just dominating its opponents by an average of almost five goals a game.

The first of just a couple of speed bumps came when the Lady Lions traveled to St. Paul, Minn., and went 0-1-1 in a two-game stretch against NCAA programs Bethel and College of St. Catherine. After the loss and the tie the Lady Lions once again reeled off a big winning streak. The next 11 games were all victories for the team.

The final speed bump of the season came on the road in Rhode Island when the team fell to the Rams 6-5 in overtime. The loss to the Rams would be the team's final defeat of the season.

Before the Lady Lions would begin their run to a national championship they would travel Boulder, Colo. for an ACHA tournament. The Lady Lions would dominate the field and win the tournament going 5-0, outscoring its opponents 43-4.

After six final regular season games the Lady Lions would begin their postseason run with the CCWHA Conference Tournament. In four games the Lady Lions would win the tournament and would only allow a total of two goals. The tournament started with a 4-2 win over the University of Michigan, followed by three straight shutouts. Western Michigan was the first, 4-0 then Grand Valley State, 2-0 and in the finals the Lady Lions beat Michigan State 2-0.

Next up for the team was a trip to Blaine, Minn., where Lindenwood would try to three-peat as national champs. The team was on a roll heading into the tournament but they knew there was a lot of work to be done.

“It was a quiet and cautious confidence that we all carried into the national championships,” O'Mara said. “We felt really good about the way we had played all season but we all knew that this was going to be the most competitive national tournament to date. Every team at the championships had a good chance to win it all. So we wanted to stay focused and ready to work very hard each and every game.”

The tournament started with a 5-0 win over the University of Massachusetts. Next was a game against Michigan State and the Lady Lions once again upended the Spartans, this time by the score of 6-1. After pool play, the first round of bracket action saw Lindenwood squeak by Grand Valley State 5-4, and then shutout Rhode Island 5-0 in the semifinals.

The finals were a rematch against Michigan State who the Lady Lions beat earlier in the tournament. The Spartans and the Lady Lions had played four times during the season with Lindenwood winning all four games.

After a scoreless first period, the Lady Lions got on the scoreboard first when Sarah Oliphant scored with just over seven minutes remaining in the second period. One period away from another national championship, the Lady Lions would tack on an insurance goal by Brett Lobreau and would go on and win another national championship.

“To have accomplished what these girls accomplished was just the best feeling any coach could have,” O'Mara said. “Three National Championships in a row and four out of the last five. It is hard enough in any team sport to repeat as a champion much less three-peat.”

Men's Hockey
Just like the women, the men's ice hockey team entered the season as the favorite and the team everybody was chasing. The previous year the Lions won the program's first ever national championship and wanted nothing more than to repeat.

The season started with the Lions picking right up where they left off from the previous season winning its first 24 straight games. It wasn't until game number 25 when the Lions finally were defeated. Ohio University came to visit the Lions and were not very good guest beating the Lions in two straight games.
Over the next 14 games the Lions would only lose three more games and would enter the postseason with a record of 35-5.

First up was the CSCHL Conference Tournament in Ames, Iowa. The Lions would open the tournament with a 6-3 win over Western Michigan and follow it up with a 4-1 win over Illinois. In the finals the Lions would face-off against Ohio who had already beaten them this season.

There would not be a repeat as the Lions would shutout the Bobcats 4-0 to win the program's first ever CSCHL conference tournament.

Now that the Lions had crossed off a conference title off their list it was time to capture the bigger title.

The Lions would travel to Chicago, Ill., for the ACHA Tournament where they would face-off against Rutgers in the opening round. Lindenwood would dismiss Rutgers by the score of 8-3, then took care of Minot State 7-2. The semifinals were a match-up with Central Oklahoma. Once again the Lions had no trouble winning 4-0.

The last chance for any team to dethrone the defending champs was in the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones. After a scoreless first period, the Lions dented the scoreboard after a goal by Cory Spradling. Exactly two minutes later Michael Sturdevant would add an insurance goal to make the score 2-0. That was the final magin as Lindenwood would hold off the Cyclones and win its second straight national championship.

Roller Hockey
After a seven national championship winning streak came to an end in 2009, the Lindenwood roller hockey had only one thing on its mind and that was to get back to the top of the roller hockey world.

The season started off like the Lions were on a mission. The team won its first 23 straight games, scoring at least 10 goals in 10 of the the 23 wins. 

After such a dominating regular season the Lions would play in the Great Plains Regional Tournament. It was three dominating wins for the Lions in winning that crown, beating the University of Missouri-St. Louis twice and the University of Missouri-Columbia once. The Lions would outscore the two teams 22-4 in three games.

Next up for the Lions was a trip to California for the NCRHA National Championship. The tournament started with the Lions losing their first game of the season to Buffalo 7-2.

“Our game against Buffalo was so bad in almost every aspect we decided to forget about as quickly as possible,” said Beilsten.

That is exactly what the Lions did beating Michigan State 5-2. Next up was UMSL and the two teams tied at four. With the opening rounds over the Lions would move onto bracket play. In the first round the Lions would take on Hostra and would shut them out 10-0. After beating Rhode Island 9-1 Lindenwood would once again take on UMSL. This time the Lions were victorious beating the Tritons 6-2.

Now the Lions were just one win away from another national championship. The only team standing in their way was the Arizona State Sun Devils.

It took the Lions only 13 second to score the game's opening goal. John McGuiness would net his first of two goals of the game. From then on the Lions would add four more goals beating the Sun Devils 5-1.

After a year away the Lions were back on top of the roller hockey podium.

“We expect a lot from our team but it was a relief to get back on top and makes you appreciate it even more,” Beilsten said.


No. 3 Moment of the Year: Men's Soccer Wins HAAC Tournament Championship
No. 4 Moment of the Year: Lindenwood Women's Lacrosse Wins Conference Tournament
No. 5 Moment of the Year: Men's Basketball Scores Win Over No. 1 Team in the Country
No. 6 Moment of the Year: Lady Lion Table Tennis Wins First Ever National Championship
No. 7 Moment of the Year: Softball Scores a Huge Win Over MidAmerica Nazarene
No. 8 Moment of the Year: Baseball Wins a Wild One Against Central Methodist
No. 9 Moment of the Year: Women's Soccer Scores Upset of Ranked Team
No. 10 Moment of the Year: Women's Tennis Wins HAAC Championship