ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team scored a pair of goals in the third period to tie the game and force overtime, but ultimately came up short of visiting Aurora University by the score of 4-3.
The Thunder struck first in the contest, lighting the lamp in the fourth minute of the first period. The team caused a neutral zone turnover ending with the puck on the stick of Drew Welsch. The junior carried the puck into the offensive zone and fired a shot from the near circle. The puck ended up deflecting off Brendan Finn and back to the far circle. Tyler Blanchard received the lose puck and struck the back of the net with his shot.
It looked like the 1-0 lead would last into the first intermission, but the Spartans forced a turnover of their own in the waning minutes of the period and capitalized with the second goal of the game. The teams went to intermission tied at one.
Aurora dominated the first half of the second period, scoring two goals in the first nine minutes of play. The first came with the teams playing four-on-four hockey after a pair of unsportsmanlike penalties at the end of the first period. The second goal was at full strength in the ninth minute.
The Thunder received a four-on-three power play opportunity early in the third period. They patiently worked the offensive zone, running the power play through Jackson Clark at the point. Eventually he slipped a pass to the top of the near circle where Michael DiPietra who quickly forwarded it into the crease. There Thad Marcola was able to capitalize with the goal.
It took nearly the rest of the period, but Trine erased the rest of the deficit. With just under two minutes remaining, Clark tied up the puck behind the Spartans' net. Sean Henry collected it from there and skated the length of the ice, weaving through traffic from both squads. From the far circle he passed the puck back to Welsch who snuck his shot into the top right corner of the net.
After both teams iced out the final minutes of regulation the game headed to overtime with a 3-3 score. The Thunder committed a tripping penalty 91 seconds into the extra period, giving Aurora a four-on-three opportunity of their own. After taking a timeout to draw up the offensive, the Spartans eventually converted ending the game with the 4-3 victory.
Trine falls to 14-4-0 overall and 7-2-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play. They do salvage a point from the overtime result. They will look to improve tomorrow, Saturday, January 20 when they host Aurora again. That game is set to start at 4 p.m.