ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team bounced back from last weekend's loss with a 4-1 victory over visiting Marian University. The win is the fourth for the team against a Northern Collegiate Athletic Association (NCHA) opponent.
The Thunder scored the lone goal of the first period in the 13th minute of play. Sam Antenucci started the play by tying up the puck at the blueline and allowing Brendan Finn to skate toward the net. Finn fired a shot around the last defender to give Evan Carroll an easy look at the net.
Trine made the score 2-0 just over four minutes into the second. This time the team took advantage of a power play opportunity. Keiton Klein and Jackson Clark passed the puck around the neutral zone before Klein moved it into the zone. He passed it to the near faceoff circle where Josh Wright was set to score the goal on a hard hit shot.
During a four-on-four situation in the sixth minute, Sean Henry came up with a loose puck near the defensive blueline and skated up the ice before passing it off to Matteo Ybarra. The senior was able to cash in for the third goal of the game. The team took that 3-0 lead into the final intermission.
The game began to heat up in the final minutes of the second with the two teams engaging in a fracas with just over two minutes remaining, sending multiple men to the box on both sides. It settled down after the 15 minute break, but the Sabres found a bit of momentum from the action. They scored their first goal of the game early in the third cutting the score to 3-1 with under 15 minutes remaining on the board.
In the final three minutes of the game, Marian pulled their goal to try to spark the offense again. Instead, Wright was able to force the turnover and get the puck to Antenucci who scored on the empty net to ice the game at 4-1.
The Thunder defense played an inspired game, allowing just 15 shots in the game. Marian took much of the first period to get their first shot on goal and were only able to tally three in the second. Kyle Kozma turned aside all but one of the low shot total to earn the win in net.
Trine improves to 9-2-0 overall and 4-1-0 in NCHA play following the victory. They will finish the weekend off with a second game against Marian, tomorrow, Saturday, December 2 at 4 p.m.