Finlandia battles tough against Spartans
BATAVIA, Ill. — The Finlandia University men’s hockey team battled the whole way in a 5-1 loss to No. 12 Aurora, Friday night at Fox Valley Ice Arena.
Aurora struck first scoring at the 7:07 mark of the first period. With less than a minute to go in the opening period, freshman Owen Schmidt had a shot saved at the last minute.
With 13:06 left in the second period, sophomore Brendan Erickson scored off a pass from junior Chris Beyer. That made it 1-1. The Spartans scored to take a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Finlandia had three strong chances that just missed in the first minute of the third period. Aurora scored twice in a 26 second span to finally take control.
The defense was active with 12 blocked shots on the night. Sophomore Dakota Meyer had 46 saves.
Lions fall on the road
Freshman Matteo Ybarra scored twice as the Finlandia University men’s hockey team (0-2 NCHA, 0-4-1) lost 10-3 to No. 12 Aurora (4-0 NCHA, 6-1), Saturday afternoon at Fox Valley Ice Arena.
Aurora scored 59 seconds into the game for the early 1-1. After several near misses, Ybarra scored on a power play with 12:10 left in the first period.
The Spartans came back at the 9:53 mark to take the lead again. At the 18:34 mark, Ybarra picked up his second power play goal of the night, making it 2-2.
Aurora scored with 1:04 left, then had two goals in the first six minutes of the second period for a 5-2 lead. The Lions refused to quit with sophomore Nick Solema getting a power play goal at the 16:24 mark.
That made it 5-3, Spartans. FinnU had two shots on target blocked in the last minute of the period. Aurora pulled away in the third period.
Sophomore Max Messier had two assists for the game.
Up next
Finlandia stays on the road, Friday, Nov. 18, playing St. Norbert. The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
