Men's Hockey falls at No. 4/6 Adrian in penalty filled contest

ADRIAN, Mich. – No. 4/6 Adrian College scored three power-play goals en route to a 5-2 Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Concordia University Wisconsin on Friday night. The game featured 22 penalties for 77 minutes as neither team played clean hockey.

The tension was high from the start as there were six minor penalties called in the opening period. AC found a way to score a pair of goals in the first 20 minutes of play, including a Shaquille Merasty power-play score with less than three minutes to play for a 2-0 advantage. Ryan Lowe scored the game's first goal, an even-strength tally at 16:02.

The second frame was fairly clean with just four penalties and no scoring. Nonetheless, the referees had their work cut out for them in the third period with 12 penalties called, including three game disqualification penalties.

Merasty found the back of the net again with a Bulldog man-advantage to put them ahead 3-0 less than three minutes into the final period. Josh Cousineau scored at 13:59 to give AC (8-0-0, 7-0-0 MCHA) a decisive 4-0 lead.

Freshman Cody Kostecki (Thunder Bay, Ontario) scored his first career goal at 14:52 to cut the Falcon (4-6-0, 4-3-0 MCHA) deficit to 4-1. Freshman Devin Stuermer (Milwaukee, Wis.) assisted on the marker.

Shelby Gray scored the final Bulldogs goal, a power-play marker, with less than a minute to play before freshman Eli Riddle (Blissfield, Mich.) found the back of the net for a CUW power-play score with eight seconds to play. Freshman Buster Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) assisted on the goal.

CUW and AC both finished with 28 shots on goal. Freshman Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) recorded 23 saves, while his counterpart James Hamby had 26 saves in the win.

The Falcons and Bulldogs conclude the two-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. CDT at Arrington Ice Arena.