ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team held two leads, but ultimately fell to visiting Adrian College by the score of 7-3 in the second half of the weekend battle between the top-ten ranked teams.
The tenth-ranked Thunder scored the first goal of the day in the fourth minute of the contest, taking an early 1-0 lead. The goal came with the home team down a man on the ice following the first penalty of the game. Bobby Price flipped the script by causing a turnover near the blueline and collecting the lose puck. Joined by Sam Antenucci the pair skated through the neutral zone on the breakaway, prices last pass gave Antenucci the chance at an open net. The sophomore scored the goal to give the team a lead.
A string of penalties in the final minutes of the period, gave the Bulldogs a 5-on-3 opportunity which they converted into a goal, before ending the remainder of the power play with a second goal under a minute later. The pair of goals gave the visiting side a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
The Thunder retook the lead in the early part of the second period, scoring two goals in a 20 second stretch. The first came just ahead of the three-minute mark in the period, when the team took advantage of a power play opportunity of their own. As the team ran their offense in the forward zone, Josh Wright passed the puck from a faceoff circle to the point where Tim Organ fired the puck toward net. Jack Cooper deflected the puck from his position just outside the crease to score the goal and tie the game at two.
18 seconds later, Logan Furstenau intercepted a pass along the blueline giving himself an easy breakaway goal. The score gave the team a 3-2 lead.
It was their last goal of the game, but the third-ranked Bulldogs scored five more of their own over the final 35 minutes of play. The final goals of the game came in the last two minutes of play, icing the game and giving Adrian a 7-3 victory.
Trine falls to 18-7-0 overall and 13-5-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play. Following the day of competition, the Thunder have locked into the third seed in the upcoming NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs. They will host Lawrence University for the two-game opening round series next weekend. Game one is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, February 16.