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3 BCHL grads win NCAA Div. III title

Former BCHL players Chris Rygus and Kurt Black were a part of the St. Norbert College Green Knights team that won the NCAA Div. III national championship last weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y.

It was a dramatic way to get it as well – on a double overtime winner.

St. Norbert’s head coach Tim Coghlin is also a BCHL alum.

The Green Knights took a 2-0 lead in the championship game only to see Salve Regina University tie it up in the third period and force overtime. St. Norbert forward Brad Pung scored halfway through the second overtime period to give his team their fifth national championship in the past 11 years.

Rygus spent two season in the BCHL from 2012 to 2014 and played for the Nanaimo Clippers and the Penticton Vees, totaling 32 points in 110 games.

Black played for four different teams in the BCHL from 2013 to 2016, but had his best stretch in the 2015-16 season with the Surrey Eagles where he put up 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 34 games.

Coghlin has been a part of all five of the Green Knights championship teams and has coached the team since the 1993-94 season. He played two years in the BCJHL from 1982 to 1984 for the Shuswap Totems.

The second-place Salve Regina team featured BCHL grad Erik Udahl who played three seasons in the league from 2014 to 2017 for the Langley Rivermen and the Coquitlam Express.