By Mark Jagord–
The Erie Community College hockey team captured its 10th overall Region III title this past weekend at HarborCenter as the Kats won a pair of games against Mohawk Valley Community College.
With the 2017 region title, it was the first time Erie won three-consecutive titles. The current region title streak also includes a national championship in 2015 and a national championship runner-up accolade last season.
After having four pairs of consecutive region titles (90-91, 93-94, 09-10, 15-16), the Kats finally made it three region titles in a row (15, 16, 17).
The Kats are 16-4-1 with three games remaining before the team heads to Binghamton for the Nationals in a round-robin tournament play.
Fourteen different Kat players found the scoresheet this past weekend with nine players registering multi-point games in a 5-2 and 6-0 win over the Hawks.
In the closer of the two contests, Anthony Cybulski and Jaret Werner had a pair of points each in the 5-2 win with Jeffrey Gardner registering 17 saves behind the pipes, Feb. 4.
In the 6-0 game, Bill Shaffer, Joshua Dake, Brendan McFall and Jacob Green all had two points while Gardner made 18 saves in earning the shutout, Feb. 5.
In the past nine seasons, the Kats have taken five region titles with a pair of back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. Erie’s other five titles came in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994.
