ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University men's hockey team finished off their weekend sweep of visiting King's (Pa.) College in style, shutting out the opposition 5-0. Sophomore Blake Robertson led the way for the Thunder offensively finishing the night with three points including two goals and an assist.
The Thunder opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the contest coming. Freshman TJ Delaney (St. Louis, Mo.) started the play coming up with the loose puck behind the net and passing out to Robertson who fired a shot from the point which was saved. The Monarchs' goalie couldn't contain the puck however and sophomore Carmine Taffo (Staten Island, N.Y.) pushed it into the goal for his first goal of the season. Trine would hold the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The score remained the same until the tenth minute of the second period when freshman Brent Jones (Brighton, Mich.) came up with the loose puck at center ice and carried it into the offensive zone, where he dropped it back to a trailing Robertson. The defender notched his first goal of the night as he carried right up to the net and backhanded it past the goalie to give Trine the 2-0 lead.
They made it 3-0 five minutes later. This time Taffo came up with the loose puck in the defensive end and passed it to the blueline where senior captain Chris Timm (Dublin, Calif.) was waiting. Timm carried it into the offensive zone and fired a shot from the faceoff circle which was saved. Delaney collected the rebound and finished it off for his first goal of the season.
Robertson finished off his three-point night by netting Trine's final goal of the period in the 18th minute. This time Robertson started the play himself, coming up with a loose puck in the defensive end and passing along to freshman Jon Doyle (Livonia, Mich.) who carried it the length of the ice. Rather than firing a shot, however, Doyle dropped the puck back to Robertson who fired it over the goaltender to give the Thunder the 4-0 lead.
The lone goal of the third came when Doyle stole the puck in the offensive end. He once again passed it along to a waiting teammate. This time it was sophomore Alex Johanson (Skokie, Ill.) who finished off the play and gave Trine their final 5-0 lead.
In net, junior Brett Young (Livonia, Mich.) notched his third shutout of the year behind the strength of 21 saves.
The Thunder improve to 6-8-1 following the victory. The team returns to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play in their next game. They travel to face Aurora University on Friday, Jan. 12 with the contest set to start at 2:50 p.m. CST.