Box Score FORT WAYNE, Ind.--The Lawrence Tech men's hockey team spotted No. 19 Indiana Tech a 4-1 first period lead and then scored four goals of their own in the third, but ultimately the Blue Devils furious rally fell short in a 6-5 loss to the nationally-ranked Warriors at SportONE/Parkview Icehouse on Friday night.
Lawrence Tech sees its four-game win streak come to an end to fall to 14-9 on the season and 13-6 in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference, while Indiana Tech improves to 16-10 overall and 13-3 in the WHAC.
Lawrence Tech Highlights
- Sophomore Drake Barnish led the LTU offense with three points on two goals and an assist.
- Sophomore Brett Tome made 31 saves.
- Graduate student Thimo Ey had a goal and an assist.
Indiana Tech Highlights.
- Braedyn Funke stopped 29 shots in the Warriors goal.
- Colton Nikiforuk scored a pair of goals.
- Joey Mocnik also had two points on a goal and assist.
How it Happened
- Things started well enough for Lawrence Tech, which went 2-for-4 on the power-play, as freshman David Hoftiezer opened the scoring with 8 minutes and 8 seconds left in the opening stanza. Classmate Charlie Ward and Barnish were credited with assists on the play.
- But that lead was shortlived as the Warriors got behind the LTU defense to score four times in a span of just 80 seconds. Nikiforuk started it on the power play at the 16:36 mark and he capped it at 17:56.
- Mocnik scored an unassisted goal at 16:43 of the second period to give the host team a commanding 5-1 lead.
- The setting looked bleak for LTU but the Blue Devils didn't quit evidenced by scoring four goals in the third period. Goals by Ey (1:02), Barnish (2:05) and graduate student Sean Pilet (5:47) pulled the visitors to within 5-4 with 14 minutes to go.
- Luke Anderson scored an insurance goal with 3:11 to go to give ITU a 6-4 advantage.
- Then 1:37 later, Blue Devils got one back on the power-play by Barnish as an extra attacker.
- Tome was pulled again in favor of an extra skater, but LTU ran out of time and couldn't get the equalizer to force an extra five-minute session.Â
Beyond the Boxscore
- Indiana Tech leads LTU 19-4 in the all-time series, winning 10 of 12 meetings on Warriors home ice.
- The Warriors jumped LTU for first place in the WHAC standings, 40 points to 39.
- The 11 goals tonight between the schools marked the most since an ITU 8-5 win on Oct. 26, 2019.
Next Up
- These same two teams meet again tomorrow night at 8 p.m.at LTU's Farmington Hills Arena to conclude their regular-season series.
