Last season, the Clemson club ice hockey team missed the College Hockey South playoffs and qualified for the AAU national championship tournament for the first time, but only after another team was eliminated.
A year later, the team achieved the best record in club history. They played for the CHS Division II Champions Trophy and advanced to the AAU National Tournament quarterfinal round as the No. 11 seed in the tournament, both firsts in club history.
This year has been a string of memorable firsts for Clemson, which does not have a winning record in an active player's career, including three wins in 2019-20.
Despite opening the season with a loss to Georgia in August, the Tigers posted a 10-4-0 record in the fall semester alone, the team's first 10-0 record since the 2014-15 season (13-5-0). It marked a winning season. . Although Clemson University fell short in the first six games of the spring semester, the team bounced back with an overall record of 17 wins, 12 losses, and 1, qualifying for the CHS playoffs for the first time in two years.
Clemson, the No. 6 seed out of eight teams in the playoffs, faced the No. 3 Florida Gators in the first round. No one, perhaps not even the Tigers themselves, expected a 4-3 upset.
Trailing 3-0 with less than 10 minutes left in the second period, Clemson's Herb Kopf scored the Tigers' first goal, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Team captain Thomas Samuelsen and Will Van Sicklin scored two more goals during the third period, sending the game into overtime. Kopf scored the winning goal with 1:22 left in the five-minute overtime period, sealing a four-goal comeback and advancing Clemson to the second round of the playoffs.
The next day, the Tigers faced the No. 1 Florida Atlantic Owls. Samuelsen put his team ahead, but Clemson's lead quickly narrowed as Florida Atlantic scored three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead late in the second period.
Just like the day before, Clemson scored five goals by the end of the game (two from Cade Heinold, two from Kopf, and one from Van Sicklin) to defeat the Owls 6-4 and advance to the CHS Championship Game for the first time this year. advanced. History of the program. Although the Tigers ended up finishing as runners-up and falling short to the Tennessee Volunteers in the final, the team's performance proved just how much passion there is on the hill.
“The resiliency of our team was what stood out most this season,” defenseman Connor Peterson told The Tiger. “There are many examples of games we lost this year, the most important one being against FAU, but we kept our heads down and kept fighting to get the win. Our team’s biggest takeaway this year is , the game is never over until you shake hands with the other team.”
Clemson concluded its season early last month at the AAU National Tournament in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Last season, the Tigers were denied a 4-1 loss to the Niagara Purple Eagles in the opening game of the tournament. Clemson advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history after winning its pool this season by defeating the Liberty Flames, Bishop's Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores.
Despite losing 6-4 to the High Point Panthers in the quarterfinals, the Tigers looked back on their performance that week fondly, proud of the resilience and drive that allowed them to play for so long. Looking back.
Fueled by both successes and failures, the Tigers hope to make even more noise next season and achieve some more first-time wins.
“My biggest goal for next year is to get back to the Nationals and bring some hardware back to Clemson,” Peterson said.
