APPLETON, Wis. — Eighth-ranked Adrian College scored two goals in a span of 2:51 in the third period Friday to seal a 5-3 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Lawrence University at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
Adrian (13-5-2, 12-3-0 NCHA) was hanging onto a 3-2 edge when Michael Hoy scored at the 7:56 mark to build the lead to two. Cory Dunn then scored on a scramble near the net at the 10:47 mark for a 5-2 edge.
Lawrence (5-11-2, 4-7-2) battled back with the help of a pair of Adrian penalties. The Vikings got a two-man advantage for more than a minute when Adrian took two penalties within 34 seconds. Sean Reynolds cashed in for the Vikings when his shot from the high slot got past Dillon Kelley to cut the lead to 5-3 with 4:13 left.
Lawrence went 1-for-6 on the power play, and Adrian was 0-for-4.
The Vikings weren’t able to pull goaltender Greg Procopio until the final 30 seconds and couldn’t get any closer. Kelley made 16 saves to pick up the win, and Procopio stopped 21 shots in the loss.
Adrian grabbed an early 2-0 lead on the strength of first-period goals from Mat Thompson and Austin Rust.
Lawrence surged to life in the opening seconds of the second period. Matt Beranek took a pass from the corner and stuffed the puck past Kelley just 22 seconds into the second to trim the lead to 2-1.
Beranek got his second goal of the night with some help from Kelley later in the second period. The Bulldogs were on the power play when the puck was played to their end of the ice. Kelley came out of the net and misplayed the puck, which was picked up by Beranek. He found the back of the open net for his first career short-handed goal to tie the game at 2-2 at the 12:50 mark.
Adrian took the lead back with 2:02 left in the period when Taylor McCloy scored on a scrum in front of the net, and that gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead heading to the third period.
The teams wrap up the series Saturday afternoon.