The roller hockey gold D4 squad was swept in a best-of-three conference championship series in the Great Plains Collegiate Inline Hockey League (GPCIHL) February 23 at Midwest Sport Hockey in Ballwin, Missouri. Bethel (Tenn.) edged the Lions 6-5 in the opening game on Saturday, and then won the second contest 4-2 later the same day.
Things started well for Lindenwood in the first game with
Cameron Rodriguez splitting the pipes on the power play for a 1-0 lead at 2:07, but the Wildcats responded with back-to-back short-handed efforts in the following 68 seconds to wrestle the lead away. The second period was a back-and-forth affair on the scoreboard. With Bethel ahead 2-1, Steger tied it for the Lions at 2:13, but once again, the Wildcats responded just over a minute later. Steger struck again on the power play at 4:41, but Bethel took a one goal lead later in the period to make it 4-3. Neither team found the back of the net through the first half of the third, but Steger completed his hat trick at 6:57 to knot the game at four before the Wildcats sounded the horn twice in just 25 seconds. Lindenwood tried to mount a comeback late and
Joe Mula pulled the Lions within one with on an unassisted play with 66 seconds left in regulation, but that's as close as they would get.
The Lions outshot Bethel 36-23 and
Josh Martin made 17 saves on the 23 shots he faced to earn a tough loss in goal for Lindenwood. Steger was named Star #2 of the game with his hat trick effort.
Both squads returned to action just over five hours later for game two and the Lions took an early lead once again on a Joey Rosa drive at 6:19 of the first. The Wildcats found the equalizer with about three minutes remaining in the period to make it 1-1, the then they went ahead early in the second before Lindenwood tied it again on a Tyler Watson shot at the 2:32 mark. Bethel goalie Jimmy Teed took over from there, denying every attempt the Lions threw at him. The Wildcats scored their third goal with 27 seconds left in the second and then sealed the victory with another score in the third.
Teed earned Star #1 honors in the game with 49 saves on 51 shots as Lindenwood held a 51-28 advantage in that department. Paul Town stopped 24 of 28 pucks to take the loss for the Lions.
The series sweep dropped the Lindenwood record to 12-6 on the season and prevented the team from earning the automatic bid to the D4 National Championship. The Lions will await an at-large selection for the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) event, which is scheduled for April 10-14 at Bill Gray's IcePlex in Rochester, New York.
Earlier in the weekend, Lindenwood completed regular season play in the GPCIHL with a 13-1 victory over the Missouri D2 team and a 12-1 win against the University of Central Missouri D3 squad February 22. The Lions outshot the Tigers 37-2 in the first game with Rodriguez leading the offense with a hat trick. Single tallies came from
Josh Martin,
Addison Curcuru,
Shawn Mott,
Jake McGuire,
Kenny Gibson,
Jake Abel,
Jeremiah Keao,
Scott Mandziara, Mula, and Steger.
Tyler Kolly made one save on the two shots he faced in light work for Lindenwood in goal. Rodriguez was named Star #1 with three goals and an assist, Gibson earned Star #2 honors with a goal and four assists, and Mula was named Star #3 with a goal and two assists.
It was a similar theme in the contest against the Mules as the Lions outshot them 29-8. The offense was led by Steger with four goals, while
Anthony Willis and
Trevor Holloway each scored twice. Single goals came from Curcuru,
Nick Thorpe, and Mula. Martin stopped seven of eight pucks to earn the victory between the pipes.
