LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Trine University men's hockey team left no doubt, scoring seven goals on their way to the shutout victory of Lake Forest College, securing a sweep in the series.
The Thunder struck took advantage of a power play for their first goal. Sam Antenucci started the sequence by keeping the puck inside the offensive zone, before passing along the boards to Jack Cooper who was situated in the far corner. He toward the net and made a shot, that was deflected to the near side of the crease. Alexander Babich ripped a shot into the backside of the net for the goal. The 1-0 lead lasted into the first intermission.
It didn't take long in the second period for Trine to build on the lead, once again with the aid of special teams. This time the team was down a man when Babich threw the puck around the boards behind the net. It took a strange bounce off of a Forester forward shooting toward the center faceoff dot where Antenucci collected with a clear path to the ice. His shot was saved by the goalie, but the rebound went back to the front of the crease, giving Sean Henry an easy goal.
The team made it a three-goal lead in the eighth minute of the second. With Lake Forest about to enter the offensive end of the ice, Michael DiPietra forced a strange turnover that sent the puck flying back into the neutral zone. Max Marquette collected the loose puck and converted on the breakaway with a last second deke of the goalie.
The deluge continued in the 11th minute. Luke deVries set up the offense from behind the net passing up the near boards to Babich who returned it to him in the high slot. The defenseman's next pass was a long one that found Babich streaking through the neutral zone. Rather than taking the shot, Babich passed across the face of the net finding Cooper with an open look at the opposite side of the net.
The Thunder added on more in the period. After a missed shot by Douglas Andersson, Nick White tied up the puck along the boards behind the net. He eventually poked it free to Andersson who made a single pass back to the slot where Marquette was waiting to score the goal. The team took the commanding 5-0 lead into the second intermission.
In the fifth minute of the third, the scoring continued. This time the play started off a save by Peyton Grainer, that ended up on the stick of Josh Wright who made a quick pass toward the blueline. Brody Simko and Logan Furstenau traded passes up the ice before Furstenau scored the goal.
The seventh goal came in the ninth minute of the period, once again with the Thunder on the power play. Wright passed the puck to the point where deVries forwarded it to the near circle for Furstenau to make a hard shot toward goal. A defender gave up his body to deflect the chance but the rebound went right to deVries who scored on his long distance shot.
Grainer played the game in net and made 23 saves in the shutout.
The Thunder improve to 12-5-2 overall and 7-2-2 in NCHA play after the victory. They will return home for a meeting with nationally ranked Aurora University. The Spartans currently sit second in both national polls. Game one of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, January 30.
