Lawrence stops Men's Hockey in home-opener

MEQUON, Wis. – Despite another night of 40-plus shots on goal, the Concordia University Men's Hockey team was once against stopped by Lawrence University, falling 4-2 at the Ozaukee Ice Center. CUW dropped to 0-2-0 as LU also topped them last night, 6-2.

Lawrence goaltender Mattias Soderqvist was once again tough to solve as he made 44 saves, recording over 40 for the second straight game. The Falcons finished the contest with a 46-37 edge in shots as freshman Dylan Frank (Truro, Nova Scotia) made 33 saves in his first career collegiate action.

Junior Chris Hughes (Dundee, Mich.) and sophomore Cody Doiron (Caledon, Ontario) provided the goals for CUW Saturday. Hughes scored 14:34 into the game, making the score 2-1 in favor of Lawrence at the time, while Doiron scored a late power play goal with just 1:42 left in play.

LU (2-0-0, 2-0-0 NCHA) came out of the gates strong scoring two goals in the opening 13:45. Blake Roubos tallied both scores for the Vikings, the latter being a powerplay goal. Renato Engler, who later added a third period goal, assisted on both Roubos scores. Engler was an issue for CUW all weekend as he tallied seven points over the two games.

Hughes would cut the LU lead to 2-1 with 5:26 remaining in the first period. His first goal of the season came off an assist from sophomore Brett Penner (Medstead, Saskatchewan) and helped cap off a first period that saw CUW hold a 21-11 edge in shots.

The lone goal of the second 20 minutes came from the visiting Vikings 4:31 into the period. It was Matt Moore who beat Frank with Ryan Rumble and Ryan Eardley assisting on the score. LU would then go up 4-1 in the third when Engler scored just 1:45 into the period.

Doiron's tally with 1:42 left in play made the final couple of minutes interesting as it allowed CUW to pull its goalie with 42 seconds left. The Falcons were unable to score once again, however, resulting in the 4-2 final. Junior Eli Riddle (Blissfield, Mich.) assisted on the Doiron goal.

Each team had one power play goal Saturday, with the Falcons finishing 1-for-5 with the extra skater. LU went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Overall there were 14 infractions, seven being committed by each team. The Falcons ended the contest with 25 penalty minutes as one of their calls resulted in a major and a game misconduct.

CUW (0-2-0, 0-2-0 NCHA) will return to the ice next weekend when they visit St. Scholastica for another NCHA series. Puck is set to drop Friday night at 7 p.m.