Florida Gulf Coast University handed the Lions one of their only three losses of the regular season back in November, but it was a different story Tuesday afternoon as Lindenwood defeated the Eagles 5-1 in the semifinals of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Men's Division II National Championship at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

The Lions offense dominated play in the opening period, outshooting FGCU 18-7. That led to a goal and a 1-0 advantage in the opening five minutes as Gavin Delfosse and Nolan Kahl set up Zac Maupin at the 4:25 mark.

Lindenwood kept the Eagles at bay through the rest of the first and well into the second. The Lions doubled their lead at 11:58 when Logan Millhausen scored off a pass from Ethan Christofferson. It remained 2-0 Lindenwood until the waning moments of the period. After Kahl was called for roughing with 61-second remaining, Florida Gulf Coast capitalized on the power play with just 1.3 seconds left to make it 2-1.

That gave the Eagles some life and thoughts of a comeback, but only temporarily. The Lions quickly regained a two-goal advantage when Michael Mullen sounded the horn off a feed from Chase McClellan at 1:18 in the third. Austin Meers gave Lindenwood some extra insurance when he split the pipes at 12:50 with help from Brett Robinson.

The Lions maintained their 4-1 lead as the game clock wound down to the final minutes of regulation. Desperate for any kind of offense, FGCU pulled its goaltender. Moments later, Jack Louko stole the puck and slipped it to Mullen who buried an empty netter at 19:15 to close the books on a solid semifinal victory.

Lindenwood outshot the Eagles 44-22 in the contest and Cole Wheaton turned in another solid performance in goal with 21 saves on 22 shots faced. The Lions went scoreless on two power play opportunities and yielded the last second goal on the only man-advantage chance that FGCU had.

With the win, Lindenwood improved to 36-3 overall and advanced to the ACHA Men's Division II National Championship game against Montana State University. The Bobcats advanced the semifinals by winning Pool B with a record of 2-1 and a better goal differential. They stopped the University of Saint Thomas 6-1 in the other semifinal earlier on Tuesday. The title game puck drop is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at Centene Community Ice Center.