ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University men's hockey team netted three goals in the first, but needed to fend off a late period comeback attempt to come up with the 4-3 victory over visiting Marian University, to finish the weekend with a 2-0 record.
The first Thunder goal came in just the sixth minute of play. Freshman Bobby Price (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) came up with a neutral zone steal and quickly passed off the puck to senior Garrett Hallford (McKinney, Texas) who carried the puck into the offensive end. From there he passed it to a trailing Justin Meers (St. Charles, Mo.) who netted the goal to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later the team added to that lead. This time it was sophomore Jacob Berg (Plano, Texas) who forced the turnover in the neutral zone by tipping a pass. Freshman Tyler Fox (Marshall, Mich.) collected the loose puck and moved quickly into the offensive zone where he fired a perfect shot on net for the first goal of his career.
Marian cut into the lead with their first goal of the game in the ninth minute of play, taking advantage of a defensive miscue by the Thunder.
Trine netted their third goal of the period in the eleventh minute. Junior Frank Trazzera (Keller, Texas) won the contested puck inside of the offensive faceoff circle before passing it off to freshman Drew Welsch (Trenton, Mich.) who moved in front of the net before firing a shot on goal, which was saved. Sophomore Thad Marcola (Almont, Mich.) picked up the rebound and passed it back to Welsch who fired the puck by the scrambling goalie for a 3-1 lead.
Another miscue in the defensive zone let the Sabres shrink the deficit back to one before the end of the period, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Thunder at the first intermission. The offenses cooled in the second period and the score would hold well into the third period.
In the 12th minute of the final stanza, junior Brett Tierney (West Chicago, Ill.) sent a puck flying down the ice that seemed destined to end in an icing call, but Trazzera showed off some tough skating to beat out the stoppage and wrestle control of the puck in the offensive end. Marcola skated in behind the play and received a pass from Trazzera before cashing in. The goal gave the team a 4-2 lead.
Again the Sabres were ready with an answer pulling back within one again just over a minute later. They then applied ample pressure over the final six minutes of play, including pulling their goalie for the final two minutes, but sophomore Elias Sandholm (Stockholm, Sweden) was up to the task in net for the Thunder. Sandholm finished the game with 29 saves and his fourth win in goal for the team.
Trine improves to 9-3 overall and 4-2 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play following the win. They will hit the road for their next contest, traveling to face Aurora University next weekend. The first game is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. ET.
