Plum grad Ryan Loebig, other local players lead Pitt club hockey to nationals
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Ryan Loebig is confident.
The Plum graduate and senior defenseman on the Pitt club hockey team likes the way the Panthers are shaping up heading into the 20-team American College Hockey Association Division I national tournament set for Thursday through March 20 in St. Louis.
“It’s all about embracing the moment with my teammates and the opportunity we have,” said Loebig, a mechanical engineering major who is set to graduate in May.
“It’s my final season, and there is a lot of emotion involved with that. I am trying to use that as a good thing. I’ve had a good run here, and I want to make the best of it one last time.”
Pitt (26-4-1) is the No. 13 seed and will face No. 20 Navy at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in the first game of the tournament. The winner of that game will take on No. 4 UNLV at 10:15 a.m. Friday in the Round of 16.
Pitt, like many other teams, returned to a full schedule this year after not playing last season because of covid restrictions and protocols.
“We picked up right where we left off,” Loebig said.
“We were a little worried coming in because we picked up so many new guys after we had a similar season two years ago and lost a bunch of guys. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to have, but then we started playing lights out like we have been. It’s been an awesome experience, and we get to finish it off at nationals.”
Pitt adds this year’s trip to nationals to back-to-back appearances at the end of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
The Panthers qualified in 2017 and ’18 based on winning the College Hockey Mid-America regular-season title. That has since changed to where now the winner of the conference tournament picks up the automatic bid to nationals.
Pitt suffered a 3-1 loss to John Carroll in the CHMA title game Feb. 20. That setback snapped a 19-game winning streak. But the Panthers earned an at-large bid based on their No. 13 national ranking.
“This team has had such good chemistry all year, and we also stayed pretty healthy,” said Stu Rulnick, Pitt’s coach since the 2011-12 season.
“This is probably one of the deepest teams we’ve had in a while. We’ve had a few covid illnesses and guys getting sick and a few injuries here and there. But the guys we’ve plugged in filled in really well and kept us going. We were able to run four lines all year against every team we played. That has been huge to keep guys fresh, and it’s very important when you get to a tournament like nationals.”
Rulnick, who coached Plum before coming to Pitt a decade ago, said the local flair to the Pitt team makes this run even more special.
“Ten years ago when I was hired here, I heard we weren’t going to be able to win with kids from Pittsburgh and that I would have to go outside to find kids to play and win,” Rulnick said.
“But with the way Pittsburgh hockey was growing, I wanted to build the program with homegrown players as much as I could. Yes, we’ve gone outside, too, with kids from Arizona and Florida and elsewhere, but I would say 80 to 85 percent of the roster is local kids.”
Rulnick said Loebig (one goal, seven assists), a captain, has been an integral part.
“He is a defensive defenseman who doesn’t have those gaudy numbers, but he is second on the team in plus-minus and just plays with grit and toughness,” Rulnick said. “He is very solid and one of the top defensemen in the league.”
Franklin Regional’s Oldrich Virag and Penn-Trafford’s Ben Leslie, both forwards, are among the leaders of a local contingent of more than a dozen players.
Leslie leads the team in goals (27), assists (23) and points (50). Virag has 24 goals and 18 assists and is second in points (42).
“There are times when (Oldrich) can take over a game. As a coach, he’s fun to watch,” Rulnick said. “Ben has had a great season as a dependable scoring leader.”
Rulnick said if his team plays to its capabilities for a full 60 minutes, it has a shot to go far at nationals.
“If we play two good periods and take a period off, that won’t work here,” Rulnick said.
“You just can’t do that against this quality of teams. We won 19 in a row going into the playoffs, and they were against some really good teams. We’ve had some good practices, and the guys are ready to go. If we play our system all the way around, the sky’s the limit.”