ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team finished off the weekend sweep of visiting Lawrence University with a 3-1 victory for the regular season finale.
The Thunder took the lead in the 12th minute of the first period. While running their offense the team put two shots in a row on the opposition's goalie, with both getting turned aside. The second, shot by sophomore Kyle Watson stayed in close after it was saved and junior a Thad Marcola fired a pass back out of the crease to sophomore Bobby Price. From his station in the near faceoff circle, Price put the puck back in near the goalie where it ricocheted off a defender and into the far side of the net.
The lead was threatened five minutes later with Trine down a man looking to kill off a penalty. As the Vikings set up the forward press in their own zone, senior Brendan Prappas intercepted a pass at the blueline and moved forward into the zone. His pass found fellow senior Garrett Hallford who went top shelf on the goalie to give the team a 2-0 lead.
With their season on the line Lawrence came out stronger in the second period. Their goalie, senior Brian Tallieu, made save after save during the rest of the contest, finishing the day with 41 saves. The team finally gave him some offensive support scoring their first goal of the weekend in the fifth minute of the second, cutting the Trine lead to 2-1.
Still lurking in the final minutes of the contest, the Vikings pulled their goalie for an extra skater for an offensive zone faceoff. Prappas tied up the faceoff man and left the puck lose just behind him. From there Price made a great play to poke the puck past a Lawrence defender and get it into the neutral zone. Marcola was able to carry the puck the rest of the way and score the easy empty-net goal to secure the win at 3-1.
Freshman Kyle Kozma faced minimal work in the contest, but played a strong third period to secure another win for the team. He finished the game with 20 saves, eleven coming in the final period.
The Thunder finish the regular season 17-7-1 overall and 12-6-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play. They are assured of a home series in the upcoming Harris Cup Playoffs, but still await word of who their opponent will be. The first game of the weekend series will take place on Friday, February 17 with a 4 p.m. puck drop.