Oct. 22, 2009

ADRIAN, Mich. - The measuring stick for the ACHA Division I program happened on Thursday as the Bulldogs fell 4-1 to #1 Lindenwood at Arrington Ice Arena. The Bulldogs learned that they can hang with the top program in the country. Lindenwood outshot Adrian, 38-22, as AC's Jeff Bernyk had a good night at netminder. Bernyk stopped 33 shots on the evening and kept the team in the game until the end.

Lindenwood came out and put offensive pressure on the Bulldogs early in the first period. Lindendwood had a 17-3 shot on goal advantage at one point in the period but the momentum began to swing after a big 5-on-3 penalty kill. The Bulldogs were trailing 1-0 after a Steve Balint even strength goal at 5:49 which tipped off the glove of Bernyk from the left slot and just cleared the goal line. Adrian's Spencer Jordan took a five-minute fighting major at 8:43 and Joey Coffin took a hooking minor at 1:07 giving the Lions a two-man advantage. The 1:24 two-man advantage featured nine shots by LU but Bernyk made every save.

In the second period, Lindenwood went up 2-0 at 3:59 at even strength as Alex Roth went top left corner on a backhand over the blocker of Bernyk. Just moments earlier, LU killed off a 5-on-3 advantage for the Bulldogs which lasted 42 seconds. Kevin Sunde cut the lead to 2-1 with his third goal of the season for Adrian at even strength. Jared Semple was credited with an assist as Sunde scored from the right circle at 6:18.

Lindenwood regained their two-goal lead just 2:33 later as Chad Boeckman got a gift-wrapped goal from the left circle with a top-shelf wrister with assists going to Jake Ebner and Colin Long. One area which Adrian excelled in was the penalty kill as the Lions were 0-of-6 on the power play. Adrian could not keep themselves out of the box as Jack Goodell had a five-minute slashing major at 10:59 and Tim Carlson a two-minute cross checking minor at 14:53 of the period.

The third period started with matching penalties going against Goodell and Ian Coppersmith. Adrian had a golden chance to cut the lead back to one five minutes into the third as Jeff LeRoy hung back in the zone and was all alone against goaltender Robi Cavallari. LeRoy's backhand shot was just wide of the right pipe. Adrian finished 0-of-3 on the power play and had their final chance at 14:53 after a Roth minor for roughing. Adrian got a couple of shots off but Cavallari made a couple of nice saves. Neeco Belanger finished the scoring with an empty-netter at 19:12.