ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University men's hockey team pulled away in the third to secure an upset victory over their nationally-ranked opponents from Adrian College. It is the first time in program history that the Thunder have defeated the Bulldogs and it comes with the team ranked second in the latest DCU/USCHO.com national poll.
Adrian scored the first goal of the contest, taking advantage of a power-play opportunity to take an early lead in the fifth minute of play.
The rest of the period belonged to Trine. Their first goal came in the 12th minute of play, just off the end of a power-play opportunity of their own. Still a man up, freshman Sam Antenucci passed the puck from the boards toward the center of the ice where sophomore Bobby Price collected it and fired a shot toward goal. The puck deflected back to senior Jared Domin who followed up with his own shot that ended up behind the net where Price was waiting to pass it back to the front of the net. This time Domin converted the shot to tie the game.
In the final minutes of the period the Thunder took the lead on a 3-on-2 fast break. Price carried the puck over the blueline into the offensive zone before passing it to his right to senior Justin Meers who moved deeper into the zone before passing it to Antenucci who was waiting on the goalie's weak side to score the goal. The 2-1 lead held into the intermission.
Unlike last night, the Thunder built on their lead in the second period. In the ninth minute of the stanza, senior Brendan Prappas came up with a takeaway on the defensive end of the ice. He chipped the puck over a Bulldog forward all the way to the other blueline where Frank Trazzera was waiting. Trazzera passed the puck along the line to sophomore Drew Welsch who carried it into the zone and behind the net. He finished it off with a wraparound goal.
Two more power-play goals gave the team a commanding 5-1 lead past the midpoint of the third period. The first came in the ninth minute and should be marked down to a well run power-play. Meers passed the puck to the front of the net where Domin shuffled it to his left to Price who found the back of the net.
Then in the 13th minute the team again ran a great power-play. Senior Brad Jenion passed the puck behind the net to Prappas who forwarded it to Trazzera who was waiting in front of the net. Trazzera bobbled the pass, but eventually settled it and spun to fire a shot on goal.
Just a minute later the team scored their final goal of the game. Meers passed the puck to the corner where Price moved toward the net before passing it back to freshman Sean Henry who fired a quick shot into the top of the net. The goal built the team's lead to 6-1.
Adrian scored in the final two minutes of play, but that was as close as they came with the 6-2 score going final.
On the other end of the ice, sophomore Cristian Wong-Ramos played a stellar game in goal. For the second night in a row he held the high-powered offense of the Bulldogs in check allowing just the two goals while making 28 saves.
Trine improves to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play following the win. They earn four points toward the standings on the weekend, after adding three tonight to last night's one. They take travel to New York for their next competition coming Saturday, November 26 against Utica College. That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
