Men’s ACHA D2 Hockey Swept by Montana State

In a match-up between Montana State, the top ranked ACHA Division II team in the West Region, and Lindenwood, the top ranked team in the Central Region, the Bobcats completed a series sweep over the Lions by a final of 2-1 Saturday night at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

Montana State took a 1-0 lead just 95-seconds into the game and held that advantage through the entire first period, but Lindenwood was able to answer early in the second. The Bobcats were called for a boarding penalty at the 45-second mark and had killed the majority of it when they were penalized again for interference. That gave Lindenwood a two-man advantage for 37-seconds. The Lions were set up in the Montana State zone when the first penalty expired, but as the fourth man returned to the ice for the Bobcats, Ryan Granville sounded the horn on a play set up by Gage Vierzba and Steve Avalone at 2:49.

With the power play goal, the game was tied 1-1 and Lindenwood had chances to take the lead later in the period. Vierzba was called for tripping, but while the Lions were killing off the penalty, Montana State was called for goalie interference. After 56-seconds of four-on-four play, the Lions had just over a minute of power play time, but the Bobcats intercepted the puck and one pass resulted in a short-handed goal and a 2-1 advantage for Montana State at 13:06.

Lindenwood had a full two-minute man-advantage chance moments later, but couldn’t score. The rest of the second and most of the third ticked by scoreless as well. With 2:09 remaining in regulation, the Lions pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, but the Bobcats net-minder was up to the challenge.

Lindenwood outshot Montana State 35-23 and Ethan Paulin-Hatch stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced in a losing effort. The story of the game and the series was the play of Bobcats goaltender Jorgen Johnson. He stopped 34 of 35 shots on Saturday after making 45 saves on 47 shots the day before for a save percentage of .963 over the weekend. With the loss, the Lions fell to 18-7 on the season while Montana State improved to 24-2 for the best record in ACHA Division II play.

Lindenwood hosts the Winter Classic by JOG January 12-14. The Lions face Concordia University (Wisc.) at 6:45 p.m. Friday, Marian University (Wisc.) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and Trine University…