DE PERE, Wis. – In a battle of narrowly separated top ten teams, the #7/#6 Trine University men's hockey team was defeated by #5/#5 St. Norbert College, 6-1.
It wasn't the Thunder's night from the start with the Green Knights scoring the lone goal of the first period and then two more in the second for the 3-0 lead.
During the same penalty by the home team that saw the third goal, shorthanded in their favor, Trine finally found the back of the net.
Jack Cooper scored the goal at the 12:46 mark of the period.
Tim Organ and
Alexander Babich each added assists.
The Green Knights scored the final goal of the second period to take the 4-1 lead into the final intermission. They added a fifth goal eight minutes into the third period and then an empty netter to ice the game and secure the 6-1 victory.
The Thunder fall to 20-6-2 overall following the loss which also eliminates them from Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Harris Cup contention. The team still has a chance to reach the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Championship tournament as an at-large selection. They entered the weekend ranked eighth in the NPI Rankings, which are used to determine seeding and at-large selections to the tournament, and were projected as the last at-large selection to the field.
They will need to await the results of the conference tournaments around the country before learning their fate on Monday, March 10 at 10 a.m. when the tournament selection show will air on NCAA.com.
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