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Roy White | Staff Reporter
November 8, 2014 9:36 p.m

The Lions hosted the rematch series against the Oklahoma Sooners in a 2-1 win during the first game.

The first period saw great defense and skill by LU goalie, Cody Karpinski.  Karpinski faced 15 shots, all of which Karpinski denied.  During the first two minutes of the period, Lion Peppi Sipila made a heavy hit against Sooner Senate Patton.  Sipila was ejected from the game for a controversial hit to the head major penalty.  After being helped off the ice, it was later found that Patton had separated his shoulder on the hit.

The second period showed excellent offense by the Lions with two unanswered goals.  With 6:47 left in the second period, Brandon Rumble came from behind the net after a scuffle with the puck to get an unassisted goal.  Four minutes later, Graham Zagrodney and Mike Lozano fed the puck to Kevin Walters for an LU power play goal, giving the Lions a 2 point lead in the shutout.  Karpinski faced an additional 10 shots in the second, saving all.

The third period was very even as each team consistently shot on goal, none reaching the back of the net.  With 2:15 left in the final period, Oklahoma found the back of the net for the first time with a breakaway goal by Jordan Greenburg, assisted by Ryan Stouffer.

The Lions scored on two of their 31 shots compared to Oklahoma’s one goal for 37 shots.  Other than the breakaway goal, Karpinski made the net nearly unreachable with 36 saves on 37 shots in the first game in the series.  Stretching the Lions winning streak to 8, as they move to 8-4-1.