MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The Lindenwood men's hockey team (14-14-0) came out on top of a high scoring exhibition contest against the United States National Team Development Program on Sunday afternoon. The Lions prevailed 9-4 with each goal being scored by a different skater.
The teams ended the game with an even 40 shots on goal apiece while also both going 1-4 on the power play.
Game Overview
Lindenwood came out playing like a group with a point to prove, quickly jumping on the National Team with three goals in the game's first six and a half minutes.
Anselmo Rego lit the lamp right of the gates, scoring 23 seconds in before
Ethan Elias doubled the lead at the three-minute mark.
The early blitz continued with a
Jake Southgate score at the 6:35 mark to make the tally 3-0 in favor of LU. Things settled down a bit in the middle of the period before another flurry of offense late in the frame beginning with a
Michael Bevilacqua goal at the 14:23 mark to push Lindenwood's lead to 4-0.
The USNTDP then found an answer with a pair of quick goals in the period's final three minutes, with a Casey Mutryn power play conversion at 17:41 followed by a Carter Meyer score at 18:14 cutting the deficit in half for the group of talented youngsters.
The two teams would swap scores in the first half of period two, with
Louis-Philippe Fontaine finding the back of the net for LU shortly after the intermission before Mikey Berchild made it three goals for the Americans at the 9:52 mark.
However, it was all Lions the rest of the way, with Lindenwood outscoring the National Team 4-1 in the game's second half with two more second period goals by
Ethan Zielke and
Connor Gengle followed by a pair of third period scores by
Olivier Houde and
Nolan Seed.
Next Up
Lindenwood is off next weekend before taking part in the inaugural United Collegiate Hockey Cup on March 5-7. The event, which is set to be hosted at Centene Community Ice Center, will feature college hockey's five independent programs in a conference tournament style competition.
