On Friday, December 11, the Keene State College Men’s Ice Hockey team faced off against Montclair State University in the Owls’ second ever home game at Keene ICE.
The Owls drew the first powerplay of the night about two minutes into the game on a cross-checking call. Off the ensuing faceoff, one of the MSU Red Hawks managed to poke the puck through the Keene defenders and was hauled down on the short-handed breakaway to draw himself a penalty shot. On the penalty shot he managed to get the puck by Owls goaltender Dylan Strogen to give the Red Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Crae Messer / Sports Editor
Later in the period the Owls scored their own short-handed goal as junior Kurt Mitchell drove hard to the net and slipped the puck past the goalie. A few minutes later, senior captain Andrew Pierce banged home a loose puck to give the Owls a 2-1 lead.
The Red Hawks came back to score two consecutive goals in the second period to give themselves a 3-2 lead. With about two minutes left in the second period, first-year defenseman Lucas Poulin unleashed a missile of a slapshot from the blue line that beat the MSU goalie over his glove to tie the game at three.
KSC defenseman Cooper Hines scored a brilliant goal early in the third period to give the Owls a 4-3 lead. This was especially satisfying for Hines as he had missed a penalty shot earlier in the game. The score remained in Keene’s favor for most of the period due to outstanding goaltending from Strogen, but with eleven seconds left on the clock, the Red Hawks tied the game after a great individual rush to send the game to overtime.
The two teams played a five-minute overtime that went scoreless thanks in part to some great penalty killing from the Owls, as they needed to kill about two and a half minutes of a major penalty. Strogen also made a huge save in the waning seconds of the game to preserve the tie.
The Owls enter the winter break with a record of 6-5-1.
Austin can be contacted at asanidas@kscequinox.com
