The Lions defeated No. 7 seeded Adrian 5-1 in the semifinals of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men's Division I Championship Monday night at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
The Bulldogs actually took a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first, but Lindenwood answered just 12-seconds later and then controlled the game from there to pull away for the victory.
Mitch Allard scored the tying goal with 7:46 remaining in the period with help from
Max Helgeson and
Kyler Newman. The Lions took a 2-1 advantage when Allard and Helgeson set up
Jackson Wozniak for a blast with 26-seconds left.
Lindenwood extended the lead with a power play goal at the 8:12 mark in the second.
Kyle Jeffers sounded the horn off a pass from
David Gagnon to make it 3-1. The Lions added two more in the third, the first coming from
Hayden Ursulak off a feed from
Zach Martin at 3:21. The final goal of the game came off the stick of
Andy Willis at 9:53, assisted by Ursulak and
Vegard Faret.
Lindenwood outshot Adrian 43 to 16 and
Trent Burnham stopped 15 of the 16 pucks he faced to earn the win in goal.
With the victory, the top seeded Lions advanced to the ACHA National Championship game against No. 6 seeded Central Oklahoma March 15. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday night at the Centene Community Ice Center.
