Men's ACHA DII ice hockey overwhelmed Sault College 11-2 Saturday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The Lions scored the first five goals of the game and converted on six power plays overall. The offense was led by a Trent Sylvester hat trick and four points from Stanley Lucas, who put the first tally on the board at 9:27 of the first.

Gage Vierzba and Ethan Christofferson earned the assists on the play that gave Lindenwood a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Vierzba earned his second assist when Zachary Schwartz lit the lamp at 10:15. Jake Lange earned the primary assist, and the Lions advantage increased to 2-0.

Three minutes later, Sylvester sounded the horn for his first of the day with Praveen Dhaliwal getting his first assist of the season. Logan Millhausen picked up his second to make it 3-0 Lindenwood. The margin increased to 4-0 when Chase McClellan scored off a feed from Millhausen at 17:52 and that score carried over into the second.

The Lions special teams dominated from that point. The Cougars were called for high sticking early in the period and Lindenwood capitalized in the delayed penalty time. Nick Jones and Ryan Granville set up Austin Meers at 2:56 to make it 5-0. From that point, almost 16-minutes ticked off the clock without any more scoring, but the period ended with a bang.

Sault College was called for a major grabbing the face mask penalty at the 17:18 mark, but Schwartz was also given a minor for roughing, so both squads skated even for two minutes. During that time, the Cougars scored their first of the game at 18:37, but the Lions answered in a big way. Now on an unlimited power play, Lindenwood added two goals to the ledger before the end of the second. Sylvester split the pipes for his second of the contest at 19:19 off a nice pass from Jack Louko, then Lucas fed Jones with one second remaining and the Lions led 7-1.

With the major penalty on Sault College, Lindenwood had power play time carry over into the third and after the Cougars were called for cross checking, it became a five-on-three opportunity that the Lions used it for one more goal. Gavin Delfosse scored his fifth of the season at 1:41, assisted by Zac Maupin and McClellan.

Even with a comfortable 8-1 advantage, Lindenwood continued its tough play on offense and defense. It was a defensive effort that led to the third goal of Sylvester's hat trick as he stole the puck and scored unassisted at 7:51. After Sault College netted a second goal at 9:15 to make it 9-2, the final moments of the game turned chippy with 18-minutes of penalties called. The Lions ended up on the short-handed side of things at the 11:33 mark when they were called for cross checking and contact to the head, along with a game misconduct with the Cougars only getting a roughing penalty. Sault College was not able to take advantage and the tables were turned.

As their power play was winding down, the Cougars were called for tripping. As the man-advantage switched from Sault College to Lindenwood, it only took a few seconds for the Lions to find the back of the net off the blade of Michael Mullen, assisted by Meers and Lucas at 14:05. Some more fireworks led to the final score of the game. The Cougars were called for two minors at 18:31, offset by one call against Lindenwood. Mullen only needed 18-seconds to score another power play goal with Jacob Behnen and Lucas earning the assists.

The Lions outshot Sault College 47-22 and Cole Wheaton stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal. Lindenwood scored six times on 10 power play chances while holding the Cougars scoreless on three man-advantage chances.

With the win, the Lions improved to 18-2 overall and won their fourth in a row. They will try to extend that streak and complete a series sweep when they face Sault College on Sunday afternoon. The opening faceoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Centene Community Ice Center.