The men's ACHA division II ice hockey secured their 11th consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon after defeating the Liberty Flames 5-4 in overtime at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
Another heavy hitting game between these two teams led to several minutes in the penalty box for both clubs. The first called penalty -a Liberty delay of game- gave Zac Maupin the chance to score his 5th goal of the season. At 8:10, Maupin scored off feeds from Brett Robinson and Cade Kujawski, the Lions goaltender. Maupin's goal gave the Lions an early 1-0 lead, but the Flames responded less than two minutes later, tying the game at 1 apiece. Although Lindenwood put 17 shots on the Liberty net minder, the score remained 1-1 until the horn sounded.
After some sloppy play in the first period, Liberty bounced back in the second. They took the lead 2:03 into the period with a goal that just beat Kujawski. They did not hold the lead for long though as Austin Meers scored an unassisted goal -his 6th of the year- at 8:45, tying the game 2-2. Liberty regained the lead again, however, at the 13:59 mark making it 3-2 Flames going into the third period.
As the third period began, the Lions defense shored up. The Flames netted another goal at 10:16 and made it 4-2, but that only seemed to enrage the Lions. From that point, Lindenwood controlled the game. At 11:16, Zac Maupin scored his second goal of the game and 6th of the year. Robinson picked up another assist and Jack Louko tallied the other. The Lions put pressure on the Flames for most of the third period, outshooting them 17-5. Their hard work was rewarded at 16:26 when Austin Meers scored his second game tying goal. Nick Jones picked up an assist on Meers' 7th goal of the season.
Three periods were not enough to decide this exciting back and forth contest. However, it did not take long for Nick Jones and the Lions to end it. Just 0:08 into the overtime period, the second shot on goal by the Lions found the back of the net. The shot came off the stick of Jones via an assist from Meers. The overtime winner was Jones' 8th goal of the season.
Cade Kujawski got the win in this game, stopping 18 of 22 Flames shots and tallying his first career assist. The win is the Lions 11th in a row, and improves their record on the season to 13-1. They now head out on the road to take on the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, Florida. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
