Aurora vs Adrian. (Photo by Mike Dickie)

As the Holiday break comes to a close for Division III, we as fans are delighted to watch the annual Holiday Tournaments that occur around this time, which typically feature matchups we otherwise wouldn’t be accustomed to. To start this year’s the tournament season off, we have the Adrian / Aurora / Bowdoin event.

This tournament is no longer officially a “tournament”, but it’s still great hockey to be played between two ranked teams that see each other often, plus a team who’s never faced off before the other two before. This year we’ll see #9 Adrian who’re 9-3-0, hosting the event at Arrington Ice Arena in Adrian MI. #6 Aurora, who’s 10-2-0, and Bowdoin, who’s 5-3-0, come and play this weekend. This was originally supposed to be four teams, but unfortunately a fourth team didn’t come about in the end. Adrian and Aurora have already played each other twice this season, with the Spartans sweeping the Bulldogs in Adrian with a pair of NCHA victories (4-1 and 4-2).  A nice little thing to make emphasis on as well is that this is Bowdoin’s first time playing Adrian or Aurora in program history. They’ll be traveling all the way from Brunswick, ME to Adrian, MI.  

Bowdoin vs Williams. (Photo via Bowdoin Athletics)

The schedule for the event goes as following:

Adrian/Aurora: Sunday (12/29/24) – 5pm ET

Aurora/Bowdoin: Monday (12/30/24) – 3pm ET

Adrian/Bowdoin: Tuesday (12/31/24) – 3pm ET

There will not be a declared winner of the event as there’s only the trio of teams competing.

There’s some exceptional talent on all of the teams this weekend, but I’ll point out three for the viewers to look out for when watching.

As for Adrian, you should be looking out for Sophomore – Ian Amsbaugh who’s racked up 22 points (8G, 14A) in 12 games this season and is second in the nation for points.

For Aurora, keep an eye on Junior – Hassan AkI who’s tallied 19 points (4G, 15A) in 12 games and is tied for 2nd in the nation in assists.

Finally, for Bowdoin look for Junior – Aiden Lyons to make some nice plays for the Polar Bears as he has 5 assists in 8 games.

This was simply a brief intro into a unique event that even though there won’t be a crowned winner, it’s still a cool set of matchups we get as it’ll feature two top-ten teams plus a new opponent in the mix out west!