The Lions faced NAU in the second round of regionals on Saturday morning, after their first round bye. The Lions, who have never made it to the third round of regionals in the programs 19 year history, came out with purpose.
In the first period, the Lions came out flying, controlling play, and scoring first as Cooper Sedlmayer stole the puck from the NAU defenseman, walking in on net and scored. NAU would answer right back, thirty seconds later as a point shot was tipped in front and the score was tied 1-1. The Lions rebounded quickly, scoring again as Sebastian Cigarran fired home the puck from the slot, giving the Lions the lead for good. After ringing a puck off the crossbar shortly after, Roberto Kampfner found the net on a 2 on 1 rush to give the Lions a 3-1 lead at the end of the first.
The Lions continued to control play in the second period, but found themselves on a 5on3 shorthanded penalty kill. But with strong play in the D zone, the Lions prevented many chances and killed off both penalties. With five minutes left in the second, Nikita Smolyanoy scored as he rushed down from the blue line and poked home a rebound, giving the Lions a 4-1 lead to end the second period.
In the third, NAU came out strong and physical, throwing the body around, and scoring first to make the game 4-2. The Lions were able to recover, as Jeff Lee scored from the wing to put the Lions back up 5-2. Then Skenderian fired home a pass from Lee to give the Lions a 6-2 lead. NAU, while taking penalties throughout the period, never gave up, and scored with six minutes left to make the score 6-3. But their penalty troubles gave the Lions more power-play opportunities and the Lions capitalized in the final minute, as Hawthorne finished off a pass from Lee. The Lions won the game 7-3, their first victory in three tries over NAU this year, and sends the Lions to the final round of ACHA West Regionals for the first time in program history. If the Lions win the game tomorrow, they’ll advance to the M2 ACHA Nationals.
Henry Lissner continued his strong season in net, Stopping 37 of 40 shots.