ADRIAN, Mich. – In a battle between two of the top-ten teams in the nation, the Trine University men's hockey team lost just their second game of the 2024-25 season. The hosting seventh-ranked Adrian College squad came up with a 4-3 victory in the non-conference contest.

Trailing 1-0 in the waning minutes of the first period, the fifth-ranked Thunder received their first power play chance of the evening. It took just five seconds for the team to score with the man advantage. Michael DiPietra won the faceoff in the offensive zone, pulling the puck back to the point for Sean Henry. The defender fired a shot on goal with the rebound staying near the net and starting a scrum. Tyler Blanchard nudged it to the far side of the net where Josh Wright was able to find the back of the net.

In the final minute of the period, Trine took their first lead of the night. Henry earned his second assist of the night by passing the puck along the offensive blueline to Kyle DeMarco, who was serving has his partner for the shift. The freshman fired a shot on goal that was saved toward the far faceoff circle. Blanchard was just able to keep control of the puck, with his off balanced attempt striking true to make the score 2-1 for the first intermission.

Both teams failed to score during the second period, with Cristian Wong-Ramos accounting for the defensive success on the Thunder end of the ice. The senior made 11 saves in both the first and second period to keep the lead heading into the third. He ultimately ended the game with 29 saves.

The home team scored their only even strength goal of the game in the fourth minute of the final stanza to knot the game at three. The second Adrian penalty of the night set up the answer for Trine in sixth minute. 28 seconds into the power play found the Thunder running their offense through the point before finding Alexander Babich along the far boards. Babich fired a pass to the redline on the far side of the net with Jack Cooper ready to make an amazing pass of his own across the face of the net. Despite getting plenty of room from the pass, Logan Furstenau had to make a top shelf shot for the goal.

Unfortunately, it was the final goal of the night for Trine, with the Bulldogs scoring twice more, both with a man advantage. In fact, each team scored all but one of their goals on the power-play on the way to the 4-3 final in favor of the home side.

The Thunder fall to 12-2-1 overall following the loss, which does not count toward the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) standings. They will return to conference play next weekend when they host Lawrence University for a pair of games. The first is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, January 17.