HANCOCK, Mich. – The Trine University men's hockey team battled through a back-and-forth contest with their hosts from Finlandia University, eventually pulling away for a 5-3 victory in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) game. Five different members of the Thunder recorded goals.
Trine scored the first goal of the night in the fifth minute of the opening period. Sophomore Tyler Fox scored the goal to give the team a 1-0 lead. Junior Thad Marcola and senior Frank Trazzera both added assists.
It looked like the lead would last into the first intermission but the Thunder committed the first penalty of the contest in the 19th minute of the period and the Lions took advantage in the final ten seconds of the period to tie the score at one.
The home team took their first lead of the night at the beginning of the second period and it was the only goal of the first 15 minutes of the stanza. The last five on the other hand included three goals two for Trine and one for Finlandia.
Junior Beau Binnie scored the first in the 16th minute knotting the game back at one, with freshman Sean Henry and sophomore Matt Bielinski adding assists. Then following the third goal by the Lions, freshman Josh Wright tied the game at three, with Binnie adding an assist for his second point of the night.
The Thunder took the lead for the final time in the sixth minute of the third period. Marcola scored the goal with senior Garrett Hallford and sophomore Tim Organ adding assists. It would end up being the game winning goal, his first of the season.
Hallford iced the game in the final minute of play with an empty net tally. Junior Chace McCardle added an assist as the team finished with a 5-3 score.
Trine improves to 10-5-1 overall and 5-4 in NCHA play following the hard-fought victory. The team will look to finish off the weekend sweep and extend their win streak tomorrow, Saturday, January 7. Opening puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.