(LEBANON, Ill., March 10)—The McKendree University hockey team dropped its second pool play game at the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 3 National Tournament Thursday morning with a 5-3 loss to Florida Gulf Coast University. The 16-team tournament is being held at The Edge Ice Arena in Holland, Mich.
The Bearcats built a 3-1 lead heading into the third period, but a four-goal third period enabled Florida Gulf Coast to rally for the victory. McKendree slips to 17-8-1 on the season. With two losses in pool play, the Bearcats will not advance to the national semifinals. However, the Bearcats have one pool play game remaining at the national tournament, which will come Friday at 12:15 p.m. ET against Davenport University.
After spotting Florida Gulf Coast a 1-0 lead in the first period, McKendree tied the contest with a power-play goal in the opening moments of the second period. Sophomore wing Nic Rolla (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) (O'Fallon, Ill.) registered his third goal of the tournament with an assist from senior defenseman Alec Steiner (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) just 1:43 into the second period to even the score at 1-1.
The Bearcats then erupted for two goals in the final two minutes of the second period to grab a 3-1 lead. First, senior defenseman Alec Steiner (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) took a pass from Rolla right in front of the net and scored from close range to give McKendree a 2-1 lead with 1:23 on the clock. Then, with just three seconds left in the period, freshman wing Josh Hasamear (Collinsville, IL/Althoff Catholic) (Collinsville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) intercepted a pass near the Eagles' blue line and scored from 20 feet out to extend the Bearcats' lead to two goals.
Florida Gulf Coast pressed the action at the outset of the third period, scoring twice in the first five minutes of the stanza to tie the game at 3-3. With just over four minutes remaining, the Eagles' Scott Short scored an unassisted goal – his second tally of the game -- to push Florida Gulf Coast back in front 4-3. The Eagles added an empty-net goal from Kris Kelo with just 27 seconds left to seal the victory.
Senior goalie Mike Stier (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) came up with 44 saves in goal for McKendree. Stier stopped 18 shots on goal in the second period, including several from close range.
