The men's hockey team fell to the visiting Indiana Tech Warriors tonight by a final of 3-2 in overtime. The game was the WHAC opener for both teams. With the loss, the Saints begin the season 0-1 in conference play and are now 1-2 overall after dropping their second-straight game.

Much of the first period saw the two teams feeling each other out, neither looking to make an early mistake that could put them behind. As the action picked up, the Saints survived a charge by the Warriors and began to tilt the ice in their favor. A flurry of shots by the Saints on Warrior goaltender Ryan O'Toole ended up with a loose puck out front that was put home by Brandon Schwandt for an AQ 1-0 lead. The goal was the first of the Saints' career for Schwandt, the freshman defenseman from Rockford. The Saints held on to their lead for the final four minutes of the period and took their 1-0 lead into intermission.

The second-period couldn't have started better for the visiting Warriors, as they scored twice in the first six minutes of play to turn the game around. A giveaway in the Saints' defensive zone led to a Fabian Franqvist goal to tie things at 1-1. Just about two minutes later, the Warriors took the lead with a shorthanded goal. Aquinas was able to counter with just under six minutes left in the second, after a stretch of play where the Saints put the Warriors under tremendous pressure and it seemed inevitable that they would find the equalizer. The goal came off of the stick of Ryan Wolfe, who scored his first of the season with 5:54 remaining in the second. Kyle Truax and Will Kortz had the assists on the play.

The third period was hotly contested throughout, but neither team could breakthrough due to the strong goalie play of O'Toole and Saints' netminder Roman Malkov. The junior goalie from Yaroslav, Russia would finish the game with 31 saves for the Saints. Both teams traded blows late in regulation, and it looked as though the Warriors would steal the game late, but the Saints survived to take the game to overtime. A late rush by Indiana Tech saw the puck end up in the Saints net as time expired, but the goal was ruled to be no good and the score remained 2-2.

Unfortunately for the Saints, the Warriors would not waste time ending things in overtime. Just 36 seconds into the game the Warriors gathered the puck in their zone and Alex Potter beat Malkov for the game winner and a 3-2 final.

The Saints and Warriors will head to Ft. Wayne tomorrow evening for the re-match in this weekend's home and home series. Puck drops at 5:30 pm. Turn to AQSaints.com and @aqsaints for scores, stats and updates.