DE PERE, Wis. -- The Trine University men's hockey team scored five goals but still came up short against nationally-ranked St. Norbert College by the score of 10-5 in the final game of the weekend.
The Thunder struck first in the contest and they struck early coming up with their first goal in just the second minute of play. Junior Brett Piper (Cartier, Manitoba) carried the puck into the offensive zone for the team before throwing the puck behind the net. There sophomore Thad Marcola (Almont, Mich.) collected it and carried it just to the side of the net clearing a pass to his teammate freshman Tyler Fox (Marshall, Mich.) who had snuck his way in close to the net. One shot was all that was necessary to take the 1-0 lead.
The Green Knights would take a lead of their own over the next four minutes scoring a pair of goals and making the score 2-1.
Trine received their first power play attempt of the contest in the 12th minute of the period and needed almost all of it to convert. In the waning seconds of the man advantage, senior Hunter Payment (Monroe, Mich.) passed the puck from the point to classmate Garrett Hallford (McKinney, Texas) who moved forward a few strides into the near faceoff circle before passing the puck across the face of the net. Freshman Drew Welsch (Trenton, Mich.) was waiting in perfect position to fire a shot through the backdoor to tie the game at two. The draw would last into the completion of the period.
St. Norbert came out firing in the second scoring two goals in the first six minutes of the period and building a 4-2 lead.
Then just a few seconds after the fourth goal from the opposition, Welsch made a play along the boards to keep the puck in the offensive zone before passing it back to Payment at the point. The senior fired a shot toward the goal that deflected off of junior Frank Trazzera (Keller, Texas) and into the net making the score 4-3.
The Green Knights answered with another two-goal stretch over the next three minutes pushing their lead to three at 6-3.
In the final few minutes of the period, the Thunder came up with a steal in their defensive zone and popped a pass into the neutral zone where Welsch collected it before working his way up the ice. The defender covering Welsch forced him to pull up just inside the offensive zone, but Welsch was able to poke the puck to junior Brendan Prappas (West Bloomfield, Mich.) who had trailed him up the ice. Prappas moved in to the faceoff circle and fired a shot on net which was pushed aside to a waiting Trazzera who finished off the play making the score 6-4. Unfortunately, St. Norbert tallied the final goal of the period and took a 7-4 lead into the final intermission.
They made the lead four in the opening minutes of the third with their third power play goal of the afternoon.
Trine received a power play chance of their own a few minutes later. In the eighth minute they were working in that power play with Hallford moving the puck at the top of the near faceoff circle. He exchanged a few passes with freshman Bobby Price (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) who eventually moved toward the goal from his position at the bottom of the circle and fired a shot on goal. The rebound came directly back to him and instead of shooting again he passed the puck in front of the net to junior Brad Jenion (Macclesfield, Great Britain) who put it home making the score 8-5.
The final two goals would go to the home team and the Thunder would fall by the score of 10-5.
The team drops to 14-6-1 overall and 8-5-1 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play following the loss. They will return to action next week when they host Lake Forest College for a pair of games. The first is set to start at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 4.
