The Lindenwood Lions Men’s Hockey Team opened their 2024-25 season with a sweep in an exhibition series against the UNLV Rebels. This was the final tune up for the Lions before their season gets underway against the University of Wisconsin on Friday, Oct. 11th.
Game one against the Rebels was controlled by Lindenwood all throughout. It took the Lions almost no time to net their first goal of the season, with Lions forward Drew Kuzma hitting the back of the net less than a minute into the game. The Rebels however answered back with a goal of their own just over a minute later by defenseman Kyle Quinn.
The Lions continued to play sound defensively, and eventually later in the first period, the Lions would score on the powerplay to take a 2-1 lead. Forward Jake Southgate would get credit with the powerplay marker, assisted by Kristof Papp and Kuzma. The Lions outshot the Rebels 15-9 in the opening period. The score would stay 2-1 heading into the second period.
The second period was much of the same for the Lions. 4:09 into the period the Lions lit the lamp again. Forward Mitch Allard scored the goal assisted by Joe Prouty and Jack Anderson. Later in the second, at 9:40, Kuzma would add a second goal to make it 4-1. Anderson would add his second assist of the game. The Lions were not done in the period with Southgate adding his second of the game at 16:03 to make it 5-1 Lions, assisted by defenseman Shawn Ramsey. The Lions outshot the Rebels 21-2 in the second.
The third period saw both teams being held scoreless. The Lions outshot the Rebels 12-4 in the period. The Lions goaltender Owen Bartoszkiewicz stopped 14 of 15 shots faced in the net in his first game with Lindenwood. Overall, the Lions shot on goal 48 times, and the Rebels 15 times, and Lindenwood won the game 5-1.
The Lions looked to carry that momentum from game one into game two, and came out flying to start the game. Around the halfway mark of the first period, the Rebels took a penalty and Lindenwood capitalized on the opportunity. At 12:50, the Lions opened the scoring with a powerplay goal by Forward Jaeden Mericer, assisted by Adam Reasier and Alexander Lundman to make it 1-0. Not even two minutes later, the Lions would be able to celebrate again as forward John Evans scores, assisted by Southgate to make it 2-0. That is what the score would stay at the end of the period. The Lions outshot the Rebels 18-3 in the period.
The second period was a very different story for the Lions, as the Rebels came out fast and scored 37 seconds into the second with a goal by Cole Wyatt to make the score 2-1. Halfway through the second period, the pace of play was with the Rebels and they scored again at 11:41. That goal was scored by Hayden Siegel, tying the game at two. After the goal, the Lions changed the netminder. The starter of the game was Alexandros Aslanidis, and he was relieved by Henry Graham. Late in the period the Rebels would take their first lead of the series with a goal by Justin Stathopoulos. 55 seconds later, however, Lindenwood would answer to tie the game. The goal was scored by Southgate assisted by Ethan Zielke and Mericer. The Rebels outshot Lindenwood 19-13 in the period.
The Lions came out a different team in the third period. Less than two minutes into the period at 1:42 Evans pots his second of the game, assisted by Papp. That goal gave the Lions a 4-3 lead, and they never looked back. At 11:56 the Lions doubled their lead with Forward David Gagnon adding a goal, assisted by Thomas Jarman and Ty Hipkin. The Lions would hold the lead, and go on to add an empty net goal at 19:05. The empty netter was scored by Zielke, and Papp and Jarman had the assists on that goal. The Lions outshot the Rebels 11-10 in the third, and outshot them for the game 42-32. The final score was 6-3 Lions. Both goalies for Lindenwood played well, Aslanidis stopped 12 out of 14 shots and Graham stopped 17 of 18 shots.
The next Lindenwood Lions home series is Nov. 15th and 16th when they face off against Ohio State University at Centene Community Ice Center.
