March 8, 2016
K-State Inline Hockey Club wins regional playoffs for first time in 20 years
This past weekend, the Inline Hockey Club traveled to St. Louis for the last regular season game and then the playoffs. The team won the last regular season game with Washington University Saturday, March 5.
Sunday, March 6, the team had a first-round bye because the team was the regular season champions. Sunday afternoon, they faced Central Missouri State in the semifinal. The K-State team won 15-4 and then faced Missouri Science and Technology in the finals. The RollerCats opened the game with a quick goal and never looked back, winning the championship game 9-2.
Since the rink in the Chester E. Peters Recreation Complex opened, we have been in the championship game every year. This year, we expect to win because the team epitomizes what a team should be: They work hard, they support each other and truly are looking out for each other on and off the court.
Clinching the regional championship is large for this team. It comes along with an auto bid to the national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in early April. The top 24 teams in the nation will be invited to this tournament, which features pool play to establish seeding before a single elimination tournament begins.
Because the team is the playoff champions of the Great Plains Region, K-State and the six other regional winners are granted a bye in the first round and automatically advance to the Sweet 16. The other teams will have to play into the group. This is the fifth year in a row that the team has been invited to be a part of this great tournament. The team has finished as high as the Final Four in 2001 and 2012 and has never fallen lower than the Sweet 16.
The RollerCats look forward to winning and adding to the team's trophy case in the Rec Complex.