In their second home series of the 2023-24 season, Lindenwood’s men’s hockey team split two games with Long Island University.
The Lions won the series’ first game on Nov. 17, by a score of 3-0. The team scored their first goal in the first period, as forward Ethan Zielke found the back of the net four minutes into the game, with assists from teammates Brendan Rons and Zachary Aughe. Lindenwood would go scoreless in the second period but was able to find the net two more times in the third period. Forward Kyle Jeffers scored six minutes into the period, with assists from Rons and Jake Southgate.
The team struck again with an empty net goal in the 19th minute of the period, as forward Mitch Allard scored the third and final goal of the game. The junior had an assist from both Aughe and Caige Setzer on the goal. In all, Lindenwood had 32 shots throughout the game, while LIU’s total was 37 shots on goal.
On Nov. 18, the two teams returned to the Centene Community Ice Center for the second game of the series. Lindenwood did not find the same success they had found the night before, losing 6-2. Long Island came out of the gates strong, scoring three times in the first period of the game. However, the Lions responded in the second period, scoring two shorthanded goals of their own. Jeffers scored the first goal of the game for Lindenwood, on an unassisted shot three minutes into the second period. Two minutes later, Southgate scored another Lions goal, assisted by Drew Kuzma, to make the score 3-2. However, Long Island responded once more, scoring its fourth goal of the game before the end of the period. The New York team then scored twice more in the final period of the game, finalizing the game score at 6-2. Lindenwood only got 21 shots off the entire game, nearly half of LIU’s total of 45.
The series split puts Lindenwood at a season record of 3-7-2 and gives them an even home record of 2-2.
Next weekend, the Lions travel to University Park, Pennsylvania to take on Penn State University in a two-game series. They then wrap up the calendar year with another two-game set against West Michigan University the following weekend.
Lindenwood returns home to the Centene Community Ice Center on Jan. 5 and 6, for their first games of 2024. They will again play West Michigan University that weekend, with puck drop coming at 6:00 p.m. both nights.
