Roller hockey won all four games it played Saturday and Sunday in Midwest Collegiate Roller Hockey League (MCRHL) action at the Bethel Wildcat Arena in Huntingdon, Tennessee. The Lions shutout the Michigan State D2 squad 15-0, outskated Bethel (Tenn.) University 5-2, and stopped Henry Ford Community College 7-0 on Saturday, then defeated the Hawks again Sunday morning by a final of 12-1.
In the opening contest of the weekend for Lindenwood, eight goals in the opening period set the tone against the Spartans.
Nick DellaMorte netted four and assisted on three others to earn Star #1 honors,
Eric Kurpiewski sounded the horn twice and helped on four scores for Star #2 recognition, and
Brett Worster had two goals and an assist to be named Star #3.
Christian Acosta also helped the Lions cause with two goals, and
Nathan Durrans,
Bennett Blake,
Clayton Liefeld,
Connor Bradley, and
Jack Wedoski accounted for the other scores. Lindenwood outshot Michigan State 36-10 and Chase Christopher stopped all 10 pucks he faced to earn the victory in goal.
The closest game of the weekend came against Bethel, but the Lions were able to keep the Wildcats at arms length from the opening faceoff. DellaMorte split the pipes at the 4:41 mark of the first to give Lindenwood the lead and he added another at 7:24 in the second for a 2-0 advantage. Bethel did score less than a minute later to stay close, but Kurpiewski gave the Lions a two score lead once again when he found the back of the net with 1:46 left in the period. The Wildcats once again pulled to within one in the opening minute of the third, but Durrans scored just under three minutes later and DellaMorte completed his hat trick with 15-seconds remaining in regulation to seal the win and earn Star #1 honors. Lindenwood outshot Bethel 39-32 and
Jacob Robinson stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced for a .938 save percentage and Star #2 recognition.
In the final game of the day, a big second period gave the Lions an insurmountable lead and they went on to victory over Henry Ford Community College. DellaMorte earned Star #1 honors with two goals, Kurpiewski had a goal and an assist and was named Star #2, and Bradley also scored one and assisted on another to earn Star #3 recognition. Lindenwood outshot the Hawks 42-8 and Robinson stopped all eight shots he faced to earn the win in goal.
The two teams faced each other again just 12 hours later with the Lions defeating Henry Ford 12-1 Sunday afternoon. Lindenwood scored five in the opening period, two of which came on the power play. They duplicated that effort with another five in the second, then added two more in the third. DellaMorte had his second hat trick of the weekend and also assisted on two other goals for Star #1 recognition. Kurpiewski also had a hat trick, and helped on a goal for Star #2 honors, and Acosta scored once and assisted on four to be named Star #3. The Lions outshot the Hawks 46-17 and Robinson stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in goal.
With the four victories, Lindenwood improved to 7-0 overall and to 7-0 in the MCRHL. After a two-month break, the Lions return to the rink for a weekend of competition at the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Inter-Regional January 21-22 at Hot Shots Arena in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania.
