FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - The Lawrence Technological University men's ACHA DIII hockey team split a weekend series against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals, taking a 4-4 tie in the first match and falling 3-2 on the road at the Cardinals home ice.
GAME 1
Shutting down the cardinals in the first period gave the Blue Devils momentum. Familiar faces were seen in the scoring column, with Dillon Morella opening the game with an assist from Drummy six minutes in. Nearly three minutes later, Drummy notched a goal of his own, with an assist from Martino Zaia to lead LTU in a hopeful start going 2-0 into the second.
The second, however, saw a different pace, with the Cardinals scoring 15 seconds into the period, then gracing the scoring sheet twice more before the Blue Devils, from the stick of Blayne Young from Zaia and Kenneth Malinoski, found the back of the net to tie the match back up to 3-3. SVSU continued to gain seed with anothergoal with two minutes left in the second, yet, was answered 40 seconds later from Young again, this time with assists from Nolan Kellough and Jason Drummy.
The third period saw the teams battle, but dominate each other defensively, ending in a 4-4 stalemate. Owen Przybylo had 21 saves in the tie, while 18 penalties occured throughout the night.
GAME 2
The second game at the home of the Cardinals saw SVSU dominate the first period much like LTU in the game before, with them finding the back of the net twice to open the game. To open the second, it was the Cardinals again grabbing a goal two minutes in. Fighting for a goal, Tim Foley gave the Blue Devils a sliver of hope with a goal in in the 12th minute of the game with an assist from Young and Adam Parker.
In the third, Lawrence Tech's dominate offensive player Young scored after a 17 minute shutdown from either side, with an assist from Malinoski. However, with no more scoring to be done, the Blue Devils narrowly fell 3-2 to conclude the weekend against SVSU. In this loss, Nicholas Barrett grabbed 21 saves. There were a whomping 16 penalties from the teams during this match, displaying the intensity of their close game.
LTU now is cruising to a conclusion of their season, with their next matches up against Northwood University come January 31 and February 1st.
