The University of Minnesota Crookston men’s club hockey team got back to their winning ways and used dominant puck possession and execution on the power play to defeat the Lake Region State College Royals by a score of 3-1 in the Crookston Sports Center.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period started with UMC controlling puck possession consistently through the first nine minutes of the period. The big reason for this was faceoffs. as the Golden Eagles won the first seven faceoffs of the period, and ended the period leading the Royals in that category 14-5. Through the first 10 minutes it was full strength hockey, until the Royals got on the power play after a Zach Larson slash. However, only 25 seconds into the power play, Fox Dodds served one top shelf shorthanded to put the Golden Eagles in front. After killing the penalty, UMC was able to capitalize while on their own power play, as a snipe by Mason Romfo made it 2-0 UMC. However, it only took LRS 42 seconds to respond, as a Brett Lesage dish to Alex Gellner got by Wyatt Olsonawski, and the Royals cut the lead to 2-1 as the period concluded.
SECOND PERIOD
At the start of the second period, UMC continued their trend of possession dominance. This time around, the Golden Eagles were much more aggressive, and Royals goalkeeper Logan Hendrickson had to be on his toes, and he rose to the occasion, making 7 saves in the first 8 minutes of the period, after making 9 saves in the entire first period. However, even through this relentless assault, no one could get through the pads of Hendrickson. His wizardry between the pipes gave the Royals a chance to do something on offense, but UMC continued to control the puck, allowing their own goalkeeper, Olsonawski, to go through the entire period without having to do much of anything. An extremely acrobatic save from Hendrickson with 5 minutes to go in the period kept the game at 2-1, and UMC had multiple chances in the final minute, but neither team in the end could score in the period, keeping the game at 2-1 at the start of the 2nd intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
Did the third period continue the same way as the first two? The answer is no, at least in the beginning, as the Royals came out as the aggressors in the start of the period, searching for the tie. However, after the first few minutes, UMC began to take more control of the puck, were taking their time a lot more, and limiting icings and offsides stoppages. Once the period got into the middle stages, UMC really started to up the aggressiveness, and they nearly got through Hendrickson halfway through the period, but a ridiculous save while laying on his stomach saved the game for the time being. That joy for the Royals was short-lived, however, as on the power play, Anthony Foster fired a one-timer behind Hendrickson to take a 3-1 lead, and that was enough for UMC to get the win.
UMC Head Coach Steve Johnson lamented the team’s start, voiving that they needed to be more aggressive tomorrow. “You know, I thought we had a real slow start, we had a lot of puck possession but we didn’t seem to have the second and third effort to score goals… I thought we were a little lethargic.” He then said the net needs to be a factor tomorrow. “A lot of our shots were from the perimeter… we need to get close to the net to capitalize on those chances.”
UMC improves to 8-3 on the year, while Lake Region State falls to 5-8. Both teams will play again tomorrow afternoon on Saturday, November 16, at 2:00pm, once again in the Crookston Sports Center.
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
| Lake Region State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| UMC | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
1ST
UMC – (SH) Fox Dodds (7, Ben Hines assist), 10:10
UMC – (PP) Mason Romfo (13, Tristan Morneault, Anthony Foster assist), 17:11
LRC – Alex Gellner (7, Kaleb Hodny assist), 17:53
2ND
No scoring in this period
3RD
UMC – (PP) Anthony Foster (4, Mason Romfo, Tyler Lorenz assist), 13:24
| Saves | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total |
| LRC- Logan Hendrickson | 9 | 18 | 20 | 47 |
| UMC- Wyatt Olsonawski | 7 | 6 | 4 | 17 |
