MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The Lindenwood men's hockey team (8-6-0) suffered a 5-2 loss against Long Island (6-9-0) on Saturday night, bringing an end to their five-game winning streak. Special teams were a key factor in the loss, as the Lions went scoreless on the power play while LIU scored a pair of power play goals in the third period.

Game Overview
Lindenwood opened the scoring just over five minutes into the opening period as Michael Bevilacqua scored from the slot on assists from Giovanni Morneau and Ty Hipkin. LIU answered at the 12:28 mark with an unassisted goal by Trevor Griebel, who fired off a shot from just below the blue line that glanced off a Lindenwood defender and into the back of the net.

Both teams squandered power play opportunities in the first half of period two before the Sharks found a go-ahead score at the 16:35 mark with a J.R. Perdion goal assisted by Onni Leppänen. The Lions were unable to equalize in the remaining three and a half minutes and entered the final intermission trailing 2-1.

As they have many times this season, Lindenwood responded in the third period with a Jacob Fletcher goal at the 8:54 mark assisted by Brady McIsaac and Adam Raesler. However, LIU scored three unanswered goals in the last 10 minutes of the game, including a pair of power play conversions by Perdion and Noah Serdachny followed by an Issac Lambert strike at the 17-minute mark to extend the Sharks lead to 5-2.

Lindenwood closed the game on the power play but were unable to find another score as they ended the evening 0-6 with the man advantage.

The Sharks created a 41-33 advantage in shots in the contest, outshooting the Lions in all three periods. Klayton Knapp posted 36 saves, which was his third highest total on the season.

Career Milestone
Drew Kuzma recorded his 100th career game played for LU on Saturday night, making him the first Lindenwood men's hockey player to reach the century mark. Kuzma has been with the program since its inaugural season in 2022-23.

Next Up
Lindenwood will take next weekend off before traveling to take on tenth ranked Maine in Orono. Game one against the Black Bears is scheduled for Saturday, December 13th at 5:30 p.m. CT with game two following on Sunday, December 14th at 3:30 p.m. CT.