Box Score ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team came from behind to defeat visiting Lawrence University by the score of 3-2 in overtime. The victory salvages two points toward the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) for the weekend, keeping their hopes for a regular season championship alive.
The Vikings found the back of the net first in the contest, sneaking the puck past Kyle Kozma's shoulder in the fourth minute of the contest. It was the only goal of the first two periods, despite ample scoring chances for both teams. Shane Brancato, who relieved Kozma in goal for Trine, stopped three breakaways in the second period to keep the deficit at one. On the other end of the ice, Nolan Mahaffey was under constant pressure from the Thunder, but held firm through the first two periods.
The Trine offense finally got going in the third period, aided by penalties committed by the visitors. Both goals in the stanza came on the power play and both came off the stick of senior Matteo Ybarra.
The first goal came in the ninth minute of play. While working in the offensive zone with the man advantage, Thad Marcola passed the puck in front of the net to the opposite faceoff circle. From there Drew Welsch fired a shot on net that was saved by Mahaffey. Ybarra needed two shots to finally get the puck into the net, but ultimately tied the game at one.
Another power play chance came a few minutes later and in the 12th minute the team struck gold again. This time the goal came in transition, with Tim Organ starting the play by passing the puck out of the defensive zone. Ybarra received the puck and skated a few strides before finding Welsch at center ice. Welsch carried the puck into the offensive zone, before passing it through the defenders back to Ybarra who went over the shoulder of the goalie.
In the 13th minute the Vikings responded. Brancato made two strong saves but couldn't cover the puck and the third shot by the visiting side found the back of the net. It ended up being the final goal of regulation and the teams headed to overtime tied at two.
The Thunder took a major advantage into the extra time, with Lawrence committing a five-minute major in the waning minutes of regulation, giving the home team a power play for most of overtime. It took nearly the whole remainder of that penalty, but Trine cashed in with the game winner in the third minute of the extra period. Sam Antenucci scored the goal with Organ and Sean Henry adding assists.
Brancato played well in relief to earn the win in net, his second of the season. He finished the game with 14 saves, including multiple against breakaways.
The Thunder improve to 18-5-0 overall and 13-3-0 in NCHA play. With their two points form the day the team owns 37 in the standings, holding second position by the slimmest of margins. Adrian College currently sits in first with 41 points while St. Norbert College holds third with 36. Trine can take the regular season title with a pair of regulation wins against the Bulldogs next weekend. Anything less will likely send the title race to tiebreakers.
The Thunder will travel to face Adrian on Friday, February 9 with opening puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. They return home for the final game of the regular season on Saturday, February 10 also with a 7 p.m. start.
