ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team held off a late comeback attempt by Lawrence University to secure a 4-2 victory in their return to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association competition.

It looked like the Thunder would cruise to a victory, after they posted a dominate performance in the first period of play. They outshot the opposition 14-2 in the period, scoring a pair of goals to lead 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The first came on the opening powerplay of the game. Running the offense in the forward zone, the puck ended up held against the boards with Alexander Babich and Jack Cooper working to free it up. Cooper eventually cleared the puck to the point where Tim Organ was waiting to forward it quickly to the near faceoff circle. From there, Logan Furstenau was able to find the back of the net over the goalie's shoulder.

Just 90 seconds later the second goal came, this time off the stick of Bobby Price. Trayce Johnson started the play by clearing the puck from the defensive zone, helped along by Michael DiPietra near the blueline. Drew Welsch collected the puck in the neutral zone and went the rest of the way, firing a shot from the near faceoff circle that ricocheted off the pipe and to the far circle. Price trailed the play perfectly and scored on the back side of the net.

The Thunder scored their third goal in the opening minute of the second period to build the lead to 3-0. Furstenau held the puck in the offensive zone before passing it off to Babich who skated right into the front of the net. Cooper ended up getting the shot on the far side of the crease and found the back of the net.

The Vikings scored the next two goals to cut well into the deficit. They came up with the first in the middle part of the second period. Then in the final two minutes with the teams playing four on four, the visitors pulled their goalie for the advantage. The ploy worked once to cut the lead to 3-2 with just 95 seconds remaining.

Lawrence kept the goalie out searching for the equalizer, but this time it backfired. Brendan Hill poked the puck free near the blueline, putting it behind the defense in the neutral zone. Tyler Fox pushed by the last Viking to collect it and skate the rest of the way for the easy empty net goal, icing the game at 4-2.

The Thunder improve to 13-2-1 overall and 7-1-1 in NCHA play. They will look to secure the sweep tomorrow, Saturday, January 18 with a second game against Lawrence. Opening puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.