Men's ACHA DII ice hockey extended its winning streak to 18 games with a 5-3 win and series sweep against Minnesota Saturday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Illinois.
Special teams were on display as each team scored a pair of power play goals in the game.
Finnigan Greeley gave the Lions a 1-0 lead early in the first with a shot set up by
Chase McClellan and
Easton Portner at the 4:25 mark, but a Lindenwood hooking penalty gave the Gophers a man-advantage opportunity and they cashed it in at 7:47 to tie the contest. The Lions regained the lead about four minutes later when
Brett Bell and
Carter Walby set up
Zachary Schwartz at 11:39. After the rest of the period was scoreless, Lindenwood took a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission.
The Lions pulled away in the second on the strength of two power play goals and a shooting margin of 26 to 7 over Minnesota, but the first score didn't come until the midway point of the period. After a Gophers cross-checking infraction,
Brock Hart only needed eight seconds to find the back of the net on a play set up by
Brett Robinson and
Austin Meers at 9:50 to make it 3-1. A Lindenwood tripping call led to a Minnesota power play goal at 14:45 to trim the lead to a single tally, but the Lions answered with the second straight man-advantage goal from Hart at 15:10, assisted by
Jack Louko and
Nick Jones. Hart then completed his hat trick at even-strength at 19:10 to make it 5-2. Zach Maupin and
Ethan Christofferson earned the assists.
Entering the third period with a three-goal lead, Lindenwood focused on puck control and defense. After giving up an early score to the Gophers at 1:29 that cut the Lions margin to 5-3, Lindenwood did not yield anything else, even after Minnesota pulled the goaltender in the final 55 seconds.
The Lions outshot the Gophers 49 to 23 and
Cole Wheaton stopped 20 of 23 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal.
In addition to starting the season with 18 straight wins, Lindenwood has now won 25 straight dating back to the end of the 2024-25 campaign. The Lions wrap up their fall campaign with a two-game series against Sault College at home December 12-13. The opening faceoff is schedule for 8:55 p.m. Friday night and again at 2:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center.
