Roller hockey swept two games in the Great Plains Collegiate Inline Hockey League (GPCIHL) February 21-23 at the All-American Sports Mall in St. Louis, Missouri. The Lions shutout the Missouri S & T D3 squad 7-0 on Friday and stopped the Illinois State D3 team 19-1 on Sunday.
In the contest against the Miners, Lindenwood scored three times in just over five minutes of play in the first period.
Joey Rosa found the back of the net at 1:58, followed by
Brycon Johnson at 2:43 and
Cody Page unassisted at 5:15. Rosa added a goal at 8:15 to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. The offense kept humming into the second.
Christian Acosta scored his first in a Lions uniform at 2:17, followed by
Joe Fordyce goal at 4:06.
Dillon Dale made it 7-0 just 23-seconds later and his goal proved to be the final of the game. Netminder
Jacob Robinson earned the win for Lindenwood.
Rosa earned Star #1 honors with two goals and an assist,
Nick DellaMorte was named Star #2 with two assists, and
Steve Farina earned Star #3 honors, also with two assists.
The Lions set the cruise control in the game against the Redbirds, scoring six goals in the first period, seven in the second, and another six in the third, while only yielding one. Three Lindenwood players earned hat tricks, including DellaMorte, who scored four times. Farina and Page split the pipes three times each, while Rosa,
Nick Berger, and
Eric Kurpiewski added two goals each. Johnson, Fordyce, and
Tyler Watson scored once.
The Lions outshot Illinois State 52-9 and Robinson made eight saves on nine shots to earn the victory in goal. Page earned Star #1 honors with three goals and two assists, DellaMorte was named Star #2 with his four goal effort, and Kurpiewski earned Star #3 honors with two goals and two assists.
Lindenwood improved to 11-7 overall and to 7-4 in conference play. GPCIHL Regionals take place February 28-29 at Matteson Square Gardens in St. Peters, Missouri. The Lions face Bethel (Tenn.) in a best-of-three championship series with game one set for 8 p.m. Friday evening and game two on Saturday at 1 p.m. If game three is necessary, it will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.
