ADRIAN, Mich.--Sophomore Trevor Coykendall scored the go-ahead goal and senior Matt McNair registered a hat trick to power Adrian to a 7-5 come-from-behind victory over visiting Aurora in the first game of their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup quarterfinal series on Friday night. 

THE BASICS
= Final Score: Adrian College 7, Aurora University 5

= Location: Weston Rink at Arrington Ice Arena; Adrian, Mich.

= Updated Records: Adrian Bulldogs, 18-5-3 overall (No. 1 NCHA-South Seed); Aurora Spartans, 12-8-6 overall (No. 4 NCHA-South Seed)

= NCAA Division III National Rankings: Adrian is No. 6 (189 points) by U.S. College Hockey Online and No. 6 in the PairWise

TOP 'DAWGS
= Senior Dino Balsamo had two assists.

= Sophomore Sam Ruffin led all centermen with 21 face-off wins and 31 attempts.

= Classmate Andrew Bellant added an empty-net goal and two assists.

THE OPPOSITION
= Adam Keyes led Aurora with three points on two goals and an assist. 

= Riley Doyon had a goal and an assist.

= Jacob Holmers led the Spartans in the face-off circle with a 15-10 record. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 
= Coykendall broke a 4-4 deadlock 6 minutes and 4 seconds into the third period to put the Bulldogs up for good.

= McNair scored his second shorthanded tally of the night to complete his hat trick 1:54 later on a feed from Balsamo, who intercepted a pass inside his blue line.   

= With Adrian leading 2-1 in the second period, Holmers, Keyes and Connor Chilton scored 3:15 apart to stake AU to a 4-2 advantage by the 5:59 mark. Holmers and Chilton had power-play goals.  

= But the Bulldogs answered with a four-goal run that ran into the final stanza. Freshman defenseman Terry Ryder made it 4-3 at 7:08 of the second and McNair tied it 4-4 with less than 1 second on the clock. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
= Adrian improves to 11-0 all-time versus Aurora, including a 5-0 mark at home.

= Aurora is making its second consecutive appearance in the Harris Cup playoffs in this, the Spartans' sixth season of NCAA existence.

= The Bulldogs are 31-6 lifetime in the conference playoffs.

= Aurora lost for only the fourth time on the road this season (8-4-2), while Adrian improves to 9-3-2 at home.

= Adrian has posted back-to-back games of three shorthanded goals to give it 12 on the season--tying the 2007-08 inaugural squad for the most in program history. The Bulldogs have tied UMass-Dartmouth for the most in NCAA Division III this season.

= The Bulldogs have the fifth-longest unbeaten streak currently in the nation--10 consecutive wins. (Utica has won 15-straight.)

UP NEXT
= These same two teams play Game 2 of their conference quarterfinal series at 3:05 p.m. tomorrow. If Aurora wins, there will be a mini-game following immediately.   

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