From Lindenwood Athletics
Men’s ACHA Division II ice hockey defeated Florida Gulf Coast 4-3 in overtime Friday night before falling to the Eagles 9-5 Saturday night at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.
In the series opener, neither team was able to get on the board in the first, but the Lions took a 1-0 lead early in the second when an Austin Meers shot found its mark off a pass from Gage Vierzba at 2:49. FGCU answered with back-to-back even strength goals at 6:19 and 10:46 to build a 2-1 advantage, but Nolan Kahl tied the contest at the 13:06 mark off a Michael Mullen feed.
The Eagles had possession of the puck in the opening minutes of the third, but Brett Robinson capitalized on a turnover and buried it in the back of the net unassisted at 5:44. Lindenwood played great defense for most of the final frame, but FGCU miraculously tied the game at 3-3 with just two seconds remaining in regulation.
The Eagles had the majority of the scoring chances in the five-minute, sudden-death overtime session, but the Lions defended well. Mullen ultimately took possession of the puck and snapped the game-winning shot unassisted at 4:26.
Florida Gulf Coast outshot Lindenwood 36-26 and Ethan Paulin-Hatch stopped 33 of the 36 pucks he faced to earn the victory in goal. The Lions went scoreless on four power plays while holding the Eagles without a goal on two man-advantage opportunities.
The final game of the two-game set proved to be a wild one with Lindenwood giving up six goals in the second period. FGCU opened up a two-goal advantage in the first before Stanley Lucas sounded the horn on the power play with help from Sean McMahon and Zac Maupin at 1:05 of the second, but the Eagles answered just 12-seconds later, then took a 4-1 lead at 4:56. With things on the verge of getting away, Lindenwood scored two within a nine-second period, the first coming off the blade of Sam Watson at 6:03, assisted by Logan Millhausen, then Anthony Tinsley split the pipes at 6:12 on a play set up by Praveen Dhaliwal and Millhousen and the FGCU lead had been cut to 4-3.
From that point, things did get away from the Lions as they yielded four goals in the final 12:30 of the period, two at even strength and two on the power play.
The final period featured 62-minutes of penalty calls and three power play goals. Lindenwood scored two of them, beginning with an Austin Meers shot at 8:07, assisted by Watson and McMahon. The Eagles scored with the man-advantage at 13:15 before Brett Robinson set up Kahl for the final goal at 18:26. Tempers erupted in the final minute and no less than five players were sent to the showers early due to penalties.
The Lions outshot FGCU 48-33 and Paulin-Hatch made 24 saves on the 33 shots he faced. Lindenwood scored three goals on four official power plays while the Eagles scored three on five man-advantage chances.
With the series split, the Lions are now 15-4 on the season. After a Thanksgiving weekend break, they return to home ice against Utah State University December 2-3. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 8:55 p.m. Friday night and at 2:10 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
(Originally published at https://lindenwoodlions.com/news/2023/11/21/mens-ice-hockey-acha-dii-mens-acha-d2-hockey-splits-with-florida-gulf-coast.aspx)
