CANTON, N.Y. – Junior Drew Welsch's led the way as the Trine University men's hockey team held off their hosts from SUNY Canton, winning the game 6-4. Welsch finished the game with four points, including the seventh hat trick in program history.
The Kangaroos struck first in the contest, converting on a power-play opportunity just under 14 minutes into the contest.
The Thunder responded quickly. After Matteo Ybarra dug the puck out of the defensive corner, he threw it out of the zone. The pass clipped a Roo defender before the puck ended up at the feet of Welsch who quickly skated into the offensive zone and across the face of the goal. He finished the play by flicking the puck past the goalie's glove side to tie the game at one.
Canton retook the lead in the early minutes of the second period and the 2-1 score held for much of the period.
Trine responded with 3:56 remaining in the period. The puck bounced between the two teams in the Thunder offensive zone. Eventually Welsch ended up with the puck in the near faceoff circle. He made a quick pass to the high slot where Chace McCardle was ready to fire a one-timer into the back of the net.
The goal opened the floodgates with Trine scoring twice more before the end of the period to take a 4-2 lead into the final intermission.
The first of those two goals went to Jackson Clark. The defender received the puck near the blueline after a faceoff win by Sam Antenucci and fired his shot through traffic for the score.
Jack Cooper scored the final goal of the period with 58 seconds remaining, deflecting the puck home off a slapshot from the point. Ybarra started the play by winning back the puck behind the net, before passing it to the point for Blake Tierney. The defender fired a shot toward the goal that went off Cooper and into the net.
The Roos responded at the midpoint of the third period with a run of their own, scoring a pair of goals in just two minutes to tie the game at four.
It looked like that score would hold through the end of regulation, but Welsch had a bit more magic in him. With under two minutes remaining, Ybarra won a faceoff directly to Welsch, just outside the offensive zone. The pair skated directly toward the net, weaving around each other and through the defense. Welsch held the puck for the entire trip and eventually fired a shot from the high slot through the confused defense for the game winner.
Welsch added a final nail to the coffin a thirty seconds later, notching an empty net goal to secure the victory and his hat trick performance.
The Thunder improve to 8-1-0 overall following the victory. They will face the Hamilton College tomorrow, Sunday, November 26 at 3:30 p.m. in the championship game of the 2023 North Country Tournament hosted by Canton.