ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University men's hockey team held a lead in the third period over nationally-ranked Adrian College, but a last-minute goal kept the Thunder from completing the upset falling in the contest 3-2.
The Bulldogs, who were ranked third in the most recent USCHO.com national poll, scored the lone goal of the first period and took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Thunder knotted the contest in the waning minutes of the second period. Senior Brandon Krumpschmid (Grand Rapids, Mich.) came up with a loose puck in the defensive zone and passed it off to freshman Drew Welsch (Trenton, Mich.) who carried it quickly up the ice before passing it into the offensive zone. Junior Frank Trazzera (Keller, Texas) collected it and carried it to the flat before passing it back to Welsch who returned it to Krumpschmid who went top shelf on the opposition's goalie.
The 1-1 tie would last into the third period when Trine took their first lead of the contest, behind the offense of the same line of forwards as the first goal. This time Krumpschmid came up with the loose puck in the offensive zone and passed it off to Trazzera who fired a shot on net that was turned aside. Trazzera collected the rebound and forwarded it to Welsch who fired it by the goalie giving the team a 2-1 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the period.
Adrian did not rollover following the lead change. With just under eight minutes remaining in the period they tied the game up again at 2-2. The goal came off a turnover in the neutral zone by the Thunder and some quick passing by the Bulldogs.
Then just following the announcement by the Adrian public address announcer of one-minute remaining, a clever pass from the neutral zone gave the Bulldogs a 2-on-1 opportunity and they converted taking a 3-2 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the third.
With under 30 seconds remaining, the Thunder pulled their goalie for the extra skater looking for a boost in the offensive end they would force a few saves from the opposition's goalie and a timeout from the Adrian bench, but they were unable to get it into the net. The 3-2 score would go final with the nationally-ranked Bulldogs avoiding the upset.
Sophomore Shane Brancato (Lake Villa, Ill.) played tough in net for Trine finishing the game with 28 saves while allowing just the three goals, just the second time Adrian has been held under four goals this season. The other time came in the first game of the year against now second-ranked Utica College.
The Thunder fall to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play. They will finish off the weekend by hosting the Bulldogs tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.