LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Trine University men's hockey team pulled away from their hosts from Lake Forest College posting a lopsided 7-0 victory to complete the weekend sweep. The win puts the Thunder, at least briefly, into sole possession of fourth in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) standings.
Trine scored their first goal of the game in the fifth minute of play. After a second Forester penalty gave the team a man advantage the Thunder began working their power play offense in the forward zone. Sophomore Tim Organ cut off a clear attempt near center ice and pushed it back quickly into the offensive zone, catching classmate Drew Welsch as he crossed the blueline. Welsch chipped the puck past a defender to freshman Sam Antenucci who fired a shot into the left side of the net.
The next goal came in the waning moments of the period as another power play opportunity came to an end. Still running their power play in the forward zone Organ and senior Garrett Hallford passed the puck up and down the far wall, before Organ found freshman Evan Carroll down on the redline. Carroll sent it back to Hallford who moved toward the faceoff dot before passing it to the near circle where senior Frank Trazzera fired a shot. The goalie got a piece of the puck but the rebound went wide and Hallford was ready to react giving the team a 2-0 lead.
Once again penalties aided the Thunder in the beginning of the third period. This time with both teams down one and extra ice available, senior Brett Tierney collected the puck behind his own net. He quickly passed the puck forward into the far circle for Hallford who transferred it in turn across the ice to sophomore Bobby Price who went the rest of the way before scoring the goal.
Trine put themselves up 4-0 in the final minutes of the period. Once again on a power play, Hallford won an offensive zone faceoff forward all the way to the wall. He followed the puck and passed it back to the top of the faceoff circle where Welsch collected before exchanging passes with Organ who was at the point. After a bit of back and forth, Organ would fire the shot and score the goal.
The Thunder added three more goals in the third period to secure the lopsided victory. Antenucci scored his second of the day to start followed by Trazzera and finally junior Beau Binnie. Hallford added two more assists in the third period to end the night with five points. Also tallying assists in the third were freshman Josh Wright, sophomore Tyler Fox and junior Chace McCardle.
In net freshman Kyle Kozma picked up another win and the second shutout of his season and career.
The Thunder improve to 15-7-1 overall and 10-6-0 in NCHA following the victory. They will finish off the regular season when they host Lawrence University next weekend, beginning with a game on Friday, February 10 which is set to begin at 7 p.m.