DII hockey loses three-goal lead in loss
Oxford sophomore Brent Bouck handles puck past defenders on Nov. 4 at the Isabella Community Events Arena.
Central Michigan Division II hockey was in penalty trouble throughout the 4-3 loss to Northwestern.
It affected them late when defensemen Josh Kirby committed a slashing penalty with two minutes left.
This penalty started the comeback and CMU went on to lose the game. The Chippewas (1-6) committed four penalties in the third period.
“Next weekend, we have to keep our head on. We got too many penalties and in the end and that really hurt us,” Kirby said.
The first period started with a lot of penalties from Northwestern. CMU could not capitalize on Both teams were unable to get many shots off as the game remained scoreless in the first ten minutes.
“The penalties determined everything today as we were hacking and whacking all game," head coach Brian Knopp said. “In a tough game like this one you can’t be on the penalty kill all game.”
Brian Townley from Northwestern went to the box to give the Chippewas a power play advantage with nine minutes left in the period. CMU's Nolan Lefebvre scored on a wrist shot to make the game 1-0 in favor of CMU.
It did not take two minutes before CMU extended their lead to two when assistant captain Justin McComas scored to make the game 2-0. The first period ended 2-0 in favor of the Chippewas.
Within a minute of the second period the Chippewas put four shots on goal when captain Kyle Chapman got a rebound off the left post and scored. This was Chapman's third goal in two games.
Northwestern got their first goal of the game by right winger Jack Harrington with 15 mins left to make it a 3-1 game. CMU could not keep their two-goal lead when center Nick Nelson scored with eight seconds left in the second period. The score was 3-2 heading into the third and final period.
Northwestern was on an offensive attack keeping the puck in the CMU zone in the third period. Northwestern got a lucky bounce right to forward David Lehman in front of the net as he scored to tie the game at three.
With eight minutes left in the game Lehman received the puck off a Michael Schwanke deflection and scored to give Northwestern a 4-3 lead. Lehman ended the game with two of the four goals for Northwestern.
CMU put up a lot of shots in the third period, but was unable to score late in the game and lost 4-3.
“This sure was a tough loss.” Knopp said. “We played a really good first period and second period, but we lost a lot of steam in the third and that made the difference.
CMU will play Washtenaw Community College next weekend at the Isabella County Ice Arena.
