DE PERE, Wis. -- The Trine University men's hockey team got out to a strong start, building a 3-0 lead against nationally-ranked St. Norbert College, but it wasn't enough as they fell 5-3 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) contest.
The Thunder wasted little time putting the fifth ranked Green Knights on notice, scoring just into the second minute of play. The goal came in transition, set up by a pair of quick passes that moved the puck across the face of the goal. Junior Brett Tierney (West Chicago, Ill.) scored the goal, his fourth of the season, with classmate Justin Meers (St. Charles, Mo.) and senior Garrett Hallford (McKinney, Texas) supplying the quick passing.
The team added to their lead just over six minutes later. Freshman Tyler Fox (Marshall, Mich.) ended up with the puck in the defensive end and made a quick pass near the blueline to sophomore Beau Binnie (Stouffville, Ontario) who was moving with speed toward the offensive zone. He carried the puck up the ice and in close to the net. Instead of firing a shot, he decided to pass it back to freshman Matt Bielinski (Buffalo, N.Y.) who trailed him up the ice. Bielinski did fire a shot scoring the goal and giving the team a 2-0 lead.
The final goal of the period came in the 18th minute. Freshman Drew Welsch (Trenton, Mich.) stoll the puck at center ice and found himself behind the St. Norbert defense. He moved into the offensive zone and to the bottom of the faceoff circle from where he fired a shot home. Trine took the 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Green Knights took over the contest from there. The tallied a pair of goals in the second to cut the deficit to one going into the second intermission. They tied the game at three in the fourth minute of the final period and took the lead in the 12th minute, before icing the win in the final minutes of play and securing the 5-3 win.
The Thunder fall to 14-6 overall and 8-5 in NCHA following the loss. They will take on St. Norbert again tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 29. The contest is set to start 5 p.m. ET.