ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team won their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Harris Cup opener 4-1 over visiting Marian University. The team is now just one more win or a tie away from the semifinal round of the tournament.
The Thunder opened the scoring early, tallying the first goal in the first minute of the contest. Max Marquette took away the puck in the defensive end and made a quick breakout pass. Nick White received that pass and went just inside of the offensive blueline before finding Brody Simko in the far faceoff circle. The freshman confused the goalie and scored the goal for the 1-0 lead.
The team added another 12 minutes later, taking advantage of a penalty by the Sabres. Working the power play offensive in the forward zone, Douglas Andersson found Sam Antenucci at the point ready to fire a long range shot on goal. The puck struck the cross bar and bounced to the near faceoff circle where Alexander Babich was waiting. Babich's shot deflected off a defender and into the goal.
Marian cut into the two-goal lead in the middle portion of the second period. They scored just after Trine killed off a power play.
The Thunder scored again before the end of the second, earning a 3-1 lead for the final intermission. This time Luke deVries wrestled back possession of the puck behind his own net. He quickly handed it off to Antenucci who went the length of the ice and then across the face of the goal to score the goal.
That lead held until the final second of the third. After an extended period of time with an empty net, Marian took a late penalty and the Thunder capitalized on the power play just before time expired. Andersson passed the puck around the boards, allowing Josh Wright to make a quick pass to the point. From there, deVries fired a slap shot at the goal that was turned aside back to Wright. The repeat performance found the back of the net for the 4-1 lead.
Kyle Kozma earned the victory in net for the Thunder. He finished the game with 14 saves.
Trine improves to 17-7-2 overall. They will look to secure their place in the semifinals tomorrow, Saturday, February 21 at 4 p.m. Should they lose that game, a winner-take-all mini-game would follow.
