ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University men's hockey team dropped their game against Adrian College by the score of 4-0, dropping out of Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Peters Cup contention.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of goals in the first period to build a 2-0 lead for the first intermission. One of those goals came with a man advantage after the only penalty of the first or second period. The home side added a goal in the waning seconds of the next period, taking advantage of an ill-timed pass by the Thunder. Adrian scored their final goal in the last minute of the game, once again on the power play.
Trine lost the shots on goal battle as well, but just barely with the final tally sitting at 28-24. Peyton Grainer played in net and allowed the four goals while making 24 saves. Alexander Babich led the team with five shots on goal, with three others turning in three each.
The Peters Cup was awarded to the Bulldogs, who are ranked second and third in the current national polls, following the game. The Thunder, who are ranked 11th and 12th in the polls, will now turn their attention to improving their seeding for the upcoming NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs. They fall to 15-7-2 overall and 11-4-2 in NCHA play.
Unfortunately, the other games of note for Trine also went the wrong way. St. Norbert College takes over second in the standings with a win against Lawrence University. Meanwhile, Aurora University evened up the third spot in the standings with the Thunder after a win against the University of Dubuque. Both team's currently hold the tiebreakers over Trine.
The Thunder will need to secure more points toward the standings then both the Green Knights and the Spartans tomorrow, Saturday, February 14 to move out of fourth position in the standings. Trine will host Adrian for their regular season finale, with opening puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. Aurora and St. Norbert are scheduled to play their final games beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT.
