The Lions fell to the NAU Ice Jacks on Friday night, in the second round of the WCHC playoffs, and the LMU season came to an end.
The Lions, ranked 4th in the WCHC, took on the NAU Ice Jacks, ranked 5th. The two teams had split their earlier two games this season. The Lions would score first, as Kampfner found the back of the net on some 4 on 4 play. But NAU answered right back to tie the score at 1-1 on a power play goal.
In the second, NAU would score early to take a 2-1 lead. The Lions tied it with 5 minutes to go in the second as Bryson Martin scored off a pass from Joe Kurita. The game was knotted at 2-2 after 2.
In the third, NAU scored their second PP goal of the game, early and led 3-2. With about ten minutes left, the puck hit a linesman and popped to a NAU player coming out of the penalty box, leading to a 2-0 attempt, and a goal that pushed the lead to 4-2.
The Lions pushed, had chances to get closer but couldn’t find the back of the net, eventually falling 5-2 as NAU scored into the empty net.
The Lions season comes to an end before they expected, but it was a great season, with fun trips, big wins and a lot of new faces in the program. Thank you to our seniors who have been part of the rise of LMU hockey over the past few years.
See you next year!