By Ryan Carlson — Contributing Writer
The San Jose State hockey team is set to embark on its first trip to South Lake Tahoe for the Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference playoffs.
During the last off-season, in the summer months of 2018, the Spartans general manager Winston Adams was looking for a competitive conference for his team to join after going a full season of not being involved in any beside the American Collegiate Hockey Association.
So the Spartans, along with four other teams, decided to join the then seven-team conference, thus increasing the capacity of the PAC-8 to 12 teams.
It was a strong start for the Spartans by earning two conference wins against division rival San Diego State the opening weekend of the season back in September.
The team was faced with turmoil with the departure of four seasoned-veteran seniors who graduated at the turn of the semester. Perhaps the most substantial loss was goaltender Eddy Berlin.
Berlin appeared in 17 out of the first 20 games in the season, ending with a record of 8-7-2 and finishing 5th in all time wins for SJSU hockey.
The Spartans had enough gas in the tank to power through the remaining six games of the season and punched their ticket as the sixth-overall seed in the playoffs.
Only eight out of the 12 teams in the PAC-8 make it to the playoffs and the champion will move on to the ACHA Regional play later on this month, as well as being crowned PAC-8 champions — a feat that Arizona State University earned in last season’s playoff run.
It will not be an easy road as the Spartans’ first test will be from the North division of the PAC-8 in Eastern Washington University.
The Eagles ended the season with a record of 10-2 in conference play and 20-6 overall. Compared to the Spartans’ 6-6 conference record and 13-12-1 overall record, this will be a good opportunity for the re-structured team to show what its made of.
The format is single elimination with the championship game taking place on Sunday.
All eight teams will play on Friday and semi-finals will be held the following day in South Lake Tahoe.
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