From The Alestle
By Sam Muren
The Cougars lost to Maryville 3-2 in overtime for the second straight game at East Alton Ice Arena on Sunday.
SIUE had a 6-0 record at home going into the game against the Saints. The 3-2 loss was the Cougars’ first at home and their second straight outcome against Maryville. SIUE lost to the Saints on Nov. 9 by the same score.
The game started strong for the Cougars, with a 2-1 lead coming out of the first. The captain, junior forward Simon Maxfield, put SIUE up early with a goal assisted by freshman defenseman Ethan Kuenhel.
Kuenhel had a solid game on the defensive side of the ice to add to his assist. He broke up a 2-on-1 and kept other offensive opportunities from becoming high-danger chances.
Maryville eventually broke through on a power-play to tie the game. The Cougars quickly responded with a goal from senior forward Jakob Schreiber to end the first with a 2-1 SIUE lead.
In the second period, Maryville tied the game during a 4-on-4. Momentum had strongly swung in favor of the Saints after the tying goal. The Cougars got a couple of chances on the power play but could not convert on them to regain the lead.
Instead, SIUE was getting heavily outshot and frequently pinned on their own side of the ice. The game was tied at the end of the second period, but the Cougars had been outshot 37-21.
The story of the night was senior goaltender Brendan Rasch.
At this point in the game, Rasch had almost faced as many shots as he had seen in the previous game. Rasch continued his lights-out performance throughout the third period.
Maryville had all the momentum throughout the third, but could not solve Brendan Rasch. The Cougars killed back-to-back penalties to keep the game tied. By the end of the third period, Rasch had faced 58 shots.
“Rasch played well and took a lot of shots. At the end of the day, [the team] has to be better in the D-zone, get the puck out quicker, make the initial pass and make sure we’re not giving them the opportunities to have 100 percent control of the puck,” Head Coach Tyler Elbrecht said.
Despite the high shot totals for the Saints, they could not beat Rasch in regulation. However, on the second shot in overtime, the Saints snuck the puck past Rasch to win the game 3-2.
Rasch finished the game by stopping 57 of 60 Maryville shots and had a .950 save percentage to cap the night.
“[I’m] just kind of frustrated, not with the team, just the situation. We were so close and were working our butt off,” Rasch said.
Even though the loss was disappointing and the first one at home, the team had some positive takeaways.
“All in all, I thought we played a really good game. We had a lot of freshmen playing. We had at least eight or nine [of them] play in these last two games,” senior forward Brendan Sommer said. “It just sucks, playing on Thursday, going into [overtime] and losing the same way again this week.”
The Cougars have not seen the last of Maryville on this current homestand. These teams will clash again in early December. SIUE will first face Loyola University Chicago in a back-to-back series at East Alton Ice Arena on Nov. 17 and 18.
(Originally published at https://www.alestlelive.com/sports/article_8fc00670-8294-11ee-9114-2fef6dcadfe3.html)
