Warriors Earn Pair Wins on Road Trip
WEST DUNDEE, Ill. – Midland University continued its stretch of road games this weekend as they traveled to face Purdue University Northwest and Northern Illinois University. The Warriors fell 6-4 to the Pride of Purdue Northwest on Thursday before sweeping past the Huskies of NIU, 5-3 and 6-3, on Friday and Saturday.
THURSDAY: Purdue Northwest 6, Midland 4
In the first game of the trip, the Warriors went toe-to-toe with the No. 18-ranked Pride. A pair of goals in the first, one from Trevor Timm and one off the stick of Andrew Larsen, staked Midland to a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
Purdue Northwest broke open their scoring column just past five minutes into the second, 5:36, only to see MU add a powerplay score at 5:52 from Milan Breczko.
Trailing 3-1, the Pride came roaring back with three goals in the final 14-plus minutes of the period. They took a 4-3 lead into the final intermission.
In the third, Midland took advantage of another powerplay chance. With 12:48 on the clock, Zach Weber scored to even the contest. Two minutes later though, the Pride moved back into the lead, 5-4. An empty-net goal in the final minute put the final touches on the 6-4 win for the home team.
Liam Tereposky was saddled with the tough loss. He picked up 27 saves in 59 minutes. The Warriors outshot the Pride 39 to 33 in defeat.
FRIDAY: Midland 5, Northern Illinois 3
Coming off a tough loss on the first night of their trip, the Warriors rebounded against a familiar foe on Friday. For the third time this season, Midland faced conference foe Northern Illinois, this time on their home ice.
A first period goal by Trevor Timm in the final minute of the first period was matched by the Huskies in the opening minute of the second. NIU would take the lead with the second goal of the period at the 11:21 mark.
Their lead was quickly vanquished as Hugo Lukacovic scored on the powerplay at the 13:03 mark following a major penalty by the Huskies. On the same man-advantage opportunity, Milan Breczko tacked on a powerplay goal 35 seconds after the first, putting the Warriors up 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
After the final break, Lukacovic scored not once, but twice for his first collegiate hat trick. His second score of the game came at the 4:57 mark and the last came at 16:11.
Down by three goals, Northern Illinois was able to get one goal back in the final minute as Midland skated to the 5-3 victory.
Nahuel Veyan picked up 25 saves on the night as the Warriors outshot the Huskies, 40 to 27.
SATURDAY: Midland 6, Northern Illinois 3
In the first period on Saturday, Fletcher Chun found Milan Breczko for the game's first goal while the Warriors were on a powerplay. The Huskies countered with a powerplay goal themselves with just under two minutes to go the period and the teams went into the intermission tied, 1-1.
Less than a minute into the second, Northern Illinois took the lead. Midland battled back with an equalizing goal from Trevor Timm, assisted by Luke Guarienti and Zach Weber, at the 3:58 mark. Four minutes later, Logan Wotton scored on the powerplay as Zak Justice and Jack Olson assisted to give the Warriors the lead once more.
Before the end of the period, Midland three more times to solidify control of the contest. At the 13:33 mark, Timm scored his second of the game. Less than 15 seconds later, Breczko picked up his second as Ian McHenry collected the assist. The final goal of the period, and the game, for the Warriors, came off the stick of Hugo Lukacovic with 1:20 left in the period. Tommy Wardas and Wotton assisted on the goal as the Warriors took a 6-2 lead into the final break.
In the third period, NIU was able to take advantage of a powerplay chance. They scored with 5:33 to go in the game but were unable to add to their tally as Midland won 6-3.
Picking up the win in goal was Ondrej Patha. He collected 31 saves on the night while his counterpart saved 35 of the 41 shots by the Warriors' attack.
Midland (5-7, 5-4 MCH) will return home for a conference series with McKendree (5-4, 5-1 MCH) this coming weekend. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Sidner Ice Arena in Fremont, Nebraska.