After losing a heartbreaker to Trine University 3-2 in a shootout Friday night, men's ACHA DII ice hockey rebounded for a 2-1 win Saturday afternoon at the Thunder Ice Arena in Angola, Indiana.
Despite the narrow margin of victory, the Lions controlled the majority of the contest, outshooting the Thunder 40-12 overall. Despite that domination, it was the Thunder that scored first. Lindenwood had a great chance to take a first period lead after a Trine slashing penalty at 8:01, but Lindenwood lost control of the puck during the ensuing power play and that led to the only Thunder score on a short-handed play at 8:52. Lions freshman netminder
Cole Wheaton made two fantastic stops, but left a second rebound loose and Trine banged it home.
It remained 1-0 Thunder until early in the second until
Anthony Tinsley tied it at the 3:42 mark off a beautiful feed from
Ethan Christofferson and
Brett Robinson. The game remained knotted at one until the final moments of the period when
Ryan Granville snuck down to the back-door position and buried a feed from
Stanley Lucas and
Chase McClellan at 18:56. From there, the Lions clamped down on defense and ran out the clock for the win.
Wheaton stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal. Lindenwood went scoreless on five power plays and despite being called for two penalties, in both cases Trine was called for a matching minor, resulting in four-on-four play.
The win on Saturday came after a tough loss Friday night. The Lions jumped in front on a
Jack Louko rebound goal set up by
Zachary Schwartz and
Zac Maupin at 15:40, but the Thunder responded with the next two scores in a span of just over three minutes in the second. After a roughing call, Trine scored just six seconds into the power play on a seeing eye shot from the point. A turnover led to the second Thunder goal and Lindenwood trailed 2-1, but wasted little time in coming back. The Lions found themselves on a four-on-three power play and after putting a ton of pressure on the defense, Granville blasted a shot at 9:54 with help from Robinson and
Austin Meers.
With just over half of the contest remaining, the defense from each team tightened up. Despite putting 22 shots on goal alone in the third, Lindenwood could not score, so an extra five-minutes of overtime was needed, but things remained deadlocked at 2-2, so for the second game in a row, the Lions went to a shootout.
After Meers was denied on the first attempt for Lindenwood, Trine split the pipes on a backhand-forehand deke to take a 1-0 lead.
Stanley Lucas came over the boards next for the Lions, but he was repelled on a five-hole attempt. When the Thunder scored on their second attempt, they claimed the shootout and the 3-2 victory. The Lions outshot Trine 55-25 in a losing effort.
With the split, Lindenwood improved to 3-1 on the season. After a five-day hiatus, the Lions return to the ice for three games in three days at the Maryville Showcase October 10-12. Lindenwood will face the University of Missouri on Thursday at 6 p.m., the host Saints at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, and the University of Arkansas at 3 p.m. on Saturday with all three games taking place at the Maryville Ice Center in Chesterfield, Missouri.
