AUBURN — The preliminary rounds of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association winded down early Friday at Norway Savings Bank Arena and the last Division I pool play game pitted two of the top teams in the country, the Lindenwood University Lions and Grand Canyon University Lopes.
The Lions (20-0-0) kept their undefeated season alive with a 4-1 victory to earn the top seed during the elimination round and a bye into the semifinals on Saturday.
“We treated it — and I am pretty sure they did too — we treated that game like a playoff game,” Lindenwood coach Ron Beilsten said. “The winner of that game got the No. 1 seed and a bye — that’s a big deal. It was good to have that type of game. It prepares for whoever is next.”
The bye allowed Lindenwood (St. Charles, Missouri) to have Friday evening off. The two-time defending champion Lions won’t play until 11:30 a.m. Saturday on rink one. Meanwhile, Grand Canyon (Phoenix, Arizona) has a quarterfinal game on Friday night.
The Lopes (22-1-3) are the first team this week to challenge the Lions, who have won their first three games of the national tournament by scores of 10-0, 13-0 and 12-0.
Grand Canyon goalie Maxim Currie was especially sturdy, making many point-blank and acrobatic saves to keep the game scoreless well into the second period. Currie finished with 22 saves in the game.
“Their goalie was great,” Beilsten said. “… We were sticking to what we’re doing: don’t stop, don’t start doing too much, all the basic things and counting on the guys on what they do.”
The Lindenwood players went to their goalie, Marky Hager, for tips on how to solve Currie.
“We were talking to our goalie: ‘How do we score on this guy?'” Lindenwood forward Nathan Durrans said. “Our goalie was saying, ‘He’s small, he moves side-to-side really well. When you get in, just shoot the puck and find a spot.'”
Durrans played an important part in the Lions’ offense Friday afternoon, recording two goals and an assist.
He set up the Lions’ first tally when he set up Connor Bradley for a power-play goal 4:56 into the second period.
Durrans provided a highlight-reel power-play goal a few minutes later, going through his legs with a shot from the slot for a 2-0 lead.
Jackson Wozniak helped set the goal up.
“(Wozniak) gave it to me across the crease, and I had it right in front — I couldn’t see the goalie,” Durrans said. “I figured he was covering the nearside, and the far side of the net was open. The only way for me to get over there is to put it through my legs. I got back to the bench and everybody was like, ‘You didn’t like the empty net on your near side?'”
Grand Canyon got back into the game when Nick Ettelbrick unleashed a long-distance slap shot that got past Hager 8:25 into the second period.
The game remained 2-1 until early in the third when Lindenwood’s Bennett Blake crashed the net to tap home a pass from Clayton Liefield for a 3-1 advantage. Christian Acosta was credited with a secondary assist.
Lindenwood went 2-for-3 on the power play and Grand Canyon was 0-for-2.
The Lopes made a late push but was unable to capitalize. On a power play, leading scorer Ruben Gonzalez rang the post, then Hager (12 saves) robbed him 30 seconds later with a sprawling save.
Durrans iced the game when he made a defensive play to spring himself for a breakaway chance, then shooting the puck into the open net for a shorthanded goal 8:49 into the third period.
“They took that one-timer that hit the post, and they got it again,” Durrans said. “Marky made an unbelievable backdoor save, which fired me up when I saw that. I said I had to go out and do something. (Grand Canyon’s Aydin) Schwartz got the puck at the top (of the zone). I have been watching this guy all year. I kind of know a little bit about what he’s going to do — he’s going to shoot this, and I blocked it. It caught the inside of my shin guard and I was off to the races.”
Beilsten said Durrans showed off all his tools to lead the Lions to the victory.
“He’s a super-skilled guy and it was all on display today,” Beilsten said.
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