Byron Center, Mich. — The Aquinas College men's hockey team took their home ice at Southside Ice Arena for the first time this new year on Saturday (Jan. 11) as they hosted the Blue Devils of Lawrence Tech for game two of their two-game series. LTU jumped off to a strong start as AQ fell behind 3-0. With a sway of momentum and scoring on key power-play goals the Saints march the contest to an equal 5-5 in the third. AQ held on and found their way into overtime, but the Blue Devils went on to claim the series with a power play goal early into overtime. Finishing the contest at 6-5 for LTU.

Lawrence Tech 6, Aquinas 5

The Blue Devils established an early lead as they collected three goals within the first period. The Saints continuously searched for their rebuttal and found one with just 13 seconds remaining. Xavier Erickson punched in a goal with a Matt Denhartigh assist. Earning the Saints a pivotal spike in morale as the period came to a close.

The second period opened up with another LTU goal, pushing their lead to 4-1. But Aquinas responded with two back-to-back power-play goals to close the gap to 4-3. Erickson tallied his second with Gavin Rozema and Arseniy Malyutin on the assists. The second goal came from Ben Cesario as Denhartigh tapped in with another assist. The Saints were feeling the flow, but LTU settled the movement with a goal pushing the distance back to two goals. Just as the Blue Devils managed a sigh of relief, this time the Saints stole the flow once more as this time Dehartigh earned a goal with Evan Doan on the assist. The contest once again returned to a one-point difference (5-4).

AQ kept on the push as they searched and sought after their equalizer. The Saints found their opportunity with just about three minutes left in regulation. Erickson found the angle and claimed a hat trick as Easton Pratt and Nick Dashner delivered him the combination pass. Aquinas had earned themselves another sigh of relief as they seemingly saved themselves from defeat. LTU utilized a timeout and looked to punch the game away, but AQ managed to keep the Blue Devils at bay and the third period of regulation concluded.

The rules of engagement for this overtime was a four vs three situation due to a late third-period penalty on AQ. This in combination with the golden goal ruling saw the finish of the contest as Lawrence Tech caught a quick goal just 28 seconds into the overtime period. This finish brought the contest to a close with a 6-5 finish in favor of the visitors.

By the Numbers

• Keeper Simon Johnson went 43/49 on the evening giving him a .877 save rating
• Eight Saints found their way to the score sheet by way of points
• Erickson led the way in scoring with a hattrick

Up Next

AQ will return to play on Friday (Jan. 17) as they head to Dearborn for conference play with UM-Dearborn with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.