ANGOLA, Ind. – In a battle of nationally ranked teams, the Trine University men's hockey team had a 3-0 lead late in the second period, but fell in overtime to visiting St. Norbert College by the score of 4-3.
The Thunder enter the weekend tenth in both the DIII Hockey News and USCHO.com polls while the Green Knights are fourth according to the former and fifth according to the latter.
Both teams had stretches of dominance in the first period. Trine came out strong in the first five minutes, before the visitors had their say in the middle portion. The Thunder were strong again in the final part of the period. Through it all Kyle Kozma played fantastic in net. He finished the period with 10 saves and ultimately took a shutout into the waning minutes of the second.
Trine found their rhythm out of the intermission, controlling the puck through much of the second period. They scored at the 61st second of the period to take the lead. After a faceoff win by the Green Knights, Max Marquette blocked a pass that would have cleared the zone. Brody Simko collected the puck at the top of the far faceoff circle before passing it toward the net where Sam Antenucci was waiting. The senior deked the goalie and scored the goal in close.
13 minutes later the Thunder added to that lead. This time Keiton Klein came up with the takeaway in the defensive zone, following up with a pass through the man at the point for the opposition. Michael DiPietra received the puck near the blueline and skated toward center ice before passing to the near boards where Blake Tierney was following. Tierney returned the favor with DiPietra just in front of the crease, where he tipped the puck off the top bar and into the net.
Less than a minute later the team made it 3-0. Sean Henry caused a turnover in the defensive zone before Jack Cooper muscled the puck toward the other end of the ice. Logan Furstenau eventually ended up with possession in the offensive zone, passing it to the slot where Cooper had established himself. Cooper had to work through defenders but he ultimately pushed the puck home.
With just under three minutes left in the second, the Green Knights finally scored, cutting the deficit to 3-1 for the second intermission. They scored again quickly in the third and then a mass of bodies blocked Kozma's view and the game was tied with under four minutes remaining. St. Norbert got behind the Thunder defense just 25 seconds into the overtime period and scored the game winner.
Trine falls to 5-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play, but they do receive one point toward the conference standings by going to overtime. They can win the series with a regulation win tomorrow, Saturday, December 6. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
