COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Lindenwood men's hockey team (3-6-0) fell 4-2 against No. 11 Colorado College (7-2-0, 1-1-0 NCHC) in a hard-fought battle at Ed Robson Arena on Friday night. Special teams were the difference makers, with two power play conversions and a shorthanded goal lifting the Tigers to victory.
Colorado College opened the scoring at the 7:32 mark of the first period with Owen Beckner tucking a wrister into the net from just outside the crease to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead, but the Lions responded less than four minutes later with
Andrew LeBlanc sliding down into the slot and ripping a shot into the far top shelf for an equalizer following a pass from
Caden Brown from below the goal line.
Lindenwood quickly broke the tie after the first intermission, with a turnover at the top of the Lions defensive zone leading to a
Ryan Abraham goal from the right faceoff circle on the odd man rush. It was Abraham's first goal as a Lion and put Lindenwood up 2-1.
However, Colorado College responded with back-to-back goals, including a Carmelo Crandell power play conversion at the 4:18 mark and a shorthanded goal by Klavs Veinbergs with just one minute remaining in the second period, to regain the lead heading into the final intermission.
The Tigers doubled their lead with a second power play goal nearly seven minutes into the third period, as Lindenwood goaltender
Liam Beerman was unable to locate a shot from near the blue line and through traffic by Colton Roberts before it reached the back of the net.
The Lions put 15 shots on target in the frame with one opportunity on the power play but were unable to find another score as they conceded their third consecutive loss.
Liam Beerman finished the night with a season-high 41 saves for a .911 save percentage.
Meanwhile, the Lions only managed 22 shots offensively for their lowest total of the season.
Quotable
"
Liam Beerman played great. We had a good start but need to go out and put a full 60 together and manage the puck better." –
Keith Fisher, Lindenwood Head Coach
Next Up
Lindenwood concludes the series against Colorado College on Saturday, with puck drop scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CT.
