The Cal. State Northridge Matadors traveled to Fort Myers, Florida March 8th to participate in the ACHA Division III National Championships.

This was the first time in school history the team had qualified for the tournament. The team's first game came on Wednesday, March 10th against the #2 seed from the South, the University of Central Florida. In a hard hitting and fast paced game, the Matadors came out sluggish against the Knights and dug themselves into a 3 goal deficit. The Matadors rallied and tied the game up at 3-3. The Knights proved to be just too much for the Matadors and tallied one goal in the 2nd to make it 4-3. The depth of UCF proved to be the downfall for the Matadors as their relentless fore-check kept the puck in Matador territory for a majority of the period and UCF walked away with a 7-4 victory.

Going into Thursday's game, the Matadors faced one of the top teams in the country, California University of Pennsylvania. The Cal PA Vulcans, started the game undefeated and finished it that way, with a 9-2 win over the Matadors. With the 1st period scoring reading 1-0 CSUN, the Vulcans came out with a vengeance and ended the period with a 4-1 lead. The third period saw more of the same. Cal's speed forced the Matadors to take several penalties, which the Vulcans were able to convert on. 

Friday's game was a game of pride, as CSUN faced Lansing College, who was also 0-2 going into their third game. CSUN came out quickly and finished the first period with a 2-0 lead. Lansing continued to fight back though and gave the Matadors all they could handle. In the end though, CSUN prevailed with an 8-6 victory. 

The Matadors will be saying goodbye to seniors Tom Duma, Josh Fields, Rory Lamb, Mike Hanna and captain JP Gale, who will be graduating in May. Thanks to all the donors who helped make this trip possible. We wouldn't have been able to do it if we didn't have your support.