LINDENWOOD 7, OU 1

The No. 5 University of Oklahoma® Hockey club opened the 2009-2010 season with an ugly thud, allowing 5 goals in the first period to No. 1 Lindenwood, who cruised the rest of the way to a 7-1 win over the Sooners.  OU put themselves in a hole early, allowing Lindenwood to crank up its powerful special teams unit and the Lions made the Sooners pay, scoring on the power play at 4:23 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead.  Lindenwood then scored three more goals while OU's Nic Power (Bixby, OK) was in the box for a five-minute major boarding penalty, one goal when the teams were skating four-on-four and the other two with OU a man down.  The Lions added another goal just before the one minute mark of the first period to send the Sooners back to the locker room down by five goals after 20 minutes of play.  In the second period, Lindenwood scored yet another power play goal before Oklahoma's Chris Nicoloau (Dallas, TX) finally got the goose egg off the scoreboard with a power play tally at 4:35 of the period to make it 6-1.  Lindenwood added an even strength goal before the end of the second period to make it 7-1 with 20 minutes left to play.  There was no scoring on the ice in the third period but there was plenty of physicalities as the teams tried to set the tone in anticipation of Saturday's night's rematch.Lindenwood was an efficient 4 for 9 on the power play while OU struggled with the man advantage, going 1 for 10 on the evening.  Oklahoma starting goaltender Chad Helgason (Woodbury, MN) stopped 3 of 6 shots before being pulled in the first period after Lindenwood's third goal.  Backup goalie Matt Pombo (Allen, TX) stopped 13 of 17 shots he faced on the evening.  Lindenwood goaltender Robi Cavallari stopped 16 of 17 OU shots.Oklahoma is now 0-1-0 while Lindenwood improves to 3-0-0 on the season. The Sooners won't have to wait long for a shot at redemption as the two teams face off again on Saturday night at 6:30 P.M. at the Blazers Ice Centre.
________________________________________
Lindenwood         5 2 0 -- 7
Oklahoma            0 1 0 -- 1
________________________________________

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, LU, Ebner (Balint, Leone) 4:23 (pp); 2, LU, Boeckman (Rankin, Bailey), 10:17; 3, LU, Ebner (Long, Leone), 11:32 (pp); 4, LU, Leone (Balint), 13:28 (pp); 5, LU, Balint (Spradling, Gorczyka), 18:47. Penalties: OU, Miller (slashing), :42; LU, Ebner (interference), 2:04; OU, Hoffmann (slashing), 2:04; OU, Zawacki (interference), 4:11; LU, Balint (interference), 4:48; LU, LaForest (check from behind), 9:01; OU, Power (boarding major), 9:27; LU, Long (elbowing), 19:11.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, LU, Long (Balint, Leone), 2:37 (pp); 7, OU, Nicolaou (Power), 4:35 (pp); 8, LU, Ebner (Rankin, Belanger), 17:45. Penalties: OU, Rombach (interference), 1:54; LU, Bailey (tripping), 2:54; LU, Scherer (hooking), 7:19; LU, Bailey (slashing), 9:39; LU, Astle (boarding, roughing, ten-minute misconduct), 12:40; OU, Zawacki (roughing, holding, ten-minute misconduct), 12:40; LU, Long (cross-checking major, game misconduct), 13:38; OU, Lee (charging major), 13:38; OU, Rombach (ten-minute misconduct), 13:38; LU, Ebner (slashing), 13:48; OU, Miller (holding the stick), 14:21; OU, Miller (high sticking), 18:25.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: LU, Roth (tripping), 7:02; OU, Martin (slashing), 8:39; OU, Miller (roughing, roughing), 8:39; OU, King (ten-minute misconduct), 8:39; LU, Scherer (slashing), 15:15; LU, Astle (check from behind, ten-minute misconduct), 18:04.

Shots on goal:
________________________________________
Lindenwood  12  6  5 -- 23
Oklahoma      7  5  5 -- 17
________________________________________

Goalies: OU, Helgason (6 shots, 3 saves), Pombo (17, 13); Lindenwood, Cavallari (17, 16). Referee: Mariconda. Linesmen: Mercer, LaForce.

LINDENWOOD 5, OU 2 (EN)

The No. 5 University of Oklahoma® Hockey club lost again to No. 1 Lindenwood 5-2 on Saturday evening in Oklahoma City.  Lindenwood jumped on top quickly with a goal just 1:35 into the game and it appeared as if a repeat of Friday's rout was in the making.  However, OU forward Ryan Lee (Edmond, OK) tied the game at one when he poked home a rebound on the power play at 7:06 of the first period.  Lindenwood took a 2-1 lead on a power play tally just after the 12 minute mark of the period and then struck a fatal blow with a short-handed goal just 44 seconds from the end of the period to make it a 3-1 contest.  The Lions scored again midway through the second period to make it 4-1.  In the third, forward Nic Power (Bixby, OK) redirected a sweet pass from Justin King (DeWitt, MI) into the LU net at 2:01 to tighten the game to 4-2.  The Sooners desperately tried to score again but were thwarted by Lindenwood's swarming defense.  Lindenwood finished off the scoring with an empty netter just 13 seconds from the final buzzer to make the final 5-2.

The OU penalty kill was better tonight as Lindenwood was only 1 for 7 while OU was 2 for 9 with the man advantage.  Oklahoma goaltender Matt Pombo (Allen, TX) stopped 36 of 39 shots he faced on the evening.  Lindenwood goaltender Chris Abbott stopped 24 of 26 OU shots.  Oklahoma is 0-2-0 while Lindenwood improves to 4-0-0 on the season. The Sooners play in two weeks at the ACHA D1 Showcase in Youngstown, Ohio.
________________________________________
Lindenwood         3 1 1 -- 5
Oklahoma            1 0 1 -- 2
________________________________________

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, LU, Krefski (Bailey), 1:35; 2, OU, Lee (Rombach), 7:06 (pp); 3, LU, Gorczyca (Bailey), 12:01 (pp); 4, LU, Bailey (Spradling), 19:16 (sh).  Penalties: LU, Gardner (holding), 5:07; OU, Power (interference), 8:57; OU, Miller (slashing), 11:04; OU, Hoffmann (hooking), 14:11; LU, Leone (holding), 19:06.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, LU, Krefski (Bailey), 11:41.  Penalties:  OU, King (hooking), :26; LU, Bailey (hooking), 1:56; LU, Krefski (slashing), 2:23; LU, Bunnstedt (roughing), 17:36; OU, Nicolaou (roughing, check from behind major, game misconduct), 17:36; OU, bench minor (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Wright), 18:27; OU, Coach Donovan (game misconduct), 18:27; LU, Balint (cross-checking), 19:32.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, OU, Power (King), 2:01 (pp); 7, LU, Boeckman (Bailey, Krefksi), 19:47 (en).  Penalties:  LU, bench minor (too many men, served by Leone), :33; LU, Spradling (holding), 1:40; OU, Hayden (tripping), 6:31; LU, Boeckman (interference), 7:16; LU, Coppersmith (holding), 11:59; OU, King (holding), 12:05.

Shots on goal:
________________________________________
Lindenwood  13 19  8 -- 40
Oklahoma     10  7  9 -- 26
________________________________________

Goalies: OU, Pombo (39 shots, 36 saves); Lindenwood, Abbott (26, 24). Referee: Floru. Linesmen: Williams, Gotsdiner.