Hockey / Week 17 Review: #12 DePaul Sweeps #19 Aurora and MSOE sweeps Lewis

Week 17 Review: #12 DePaul Sweeps #19 Aurora and MSOE sweeps Lewis

Date:  Source: Northern Collegiate Hockey League
#12 DePaul University will head into the Conference Tournament, and their title defense, on a high note. This is all thanks to their weekend sweep of #19 Aurora University, which also broke their winless streak on Aurora’s home ice. In game one, DePaul jumped out to an early lead and built it to a point where Aurora was not able to overcome the deficit. Game two went in a different direction and was a defensive battle as over the course of those 60 minutes of play only one puck would pass over the goal line.
 
In the weekend’s second divisional series, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Lewis University met for the first time. MSOE concluded their inaugural NCHL season with a sweep of Lewis and in the process jumped into second place in the Orange Division standings.
 
In non-conference action, #4 CUW split with #11 University of Wisconsin – Madison, Marian University was swept by #1 Lindenwood University, UW Oshkosh split with UW La Crosse, and results had not been posted as of press time for UW Milwaukee’s series with Illinois State University and Roosevelt University’s series with University of Illinois.
 
#12 DePaul University sweeps #19 Aurora University, takes Black Division second place:
#12 DePaul University made the cross-town trip to #19 Aurora University and scored the opening period’s only goal. Putting DePaul up 1-0 was Ryan Plotke, assisted by Billy Paschen and Zander Plotkin at 6:48.
 
The DePaul advantage increased to two at 7:42 of the second period when Brock Ash, assisted by Lukas Theodosopoulos and Anthony Martirano, lit the lamp. Goal number three for DePaul came 7:03 later off of the stick of Plotkin, with assists credited to Michael Braspenninckx and Michael Helf. Ash netted his second goal of the period with 1:04 left until the second intermission to put DePaul up by four, credited with an assist was Liam Pepper.
 
Down four to start the third period, Aurora finally was finally able to get on the scoreboard at the 6:07 mark. Scoring Aurora’s first goal was Justin Lebouef, assisted by Tyler Heinz and Max Lieberman. Aurora was able to cut the deficit down to two with Heinz’s goal at 10:36, credited with assists were Joe Letizia and Lebouef. As the end of regulation neared, Aurora pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. Unfortunately, they were not able to get any closer and Danny Mannarino, assisted by Paschen and Josh Maloney, scored an empty net goal to finish off the 5-2 DePaul victory.
 
Earning the victory, in a 29 save effort, was Asher Motew. Taking the loss was Skyler Coard in a 42 save effort.
 
After scoring seven total goals in game one, game two was a defensive battle and only one puck ended up across the goal line. Scoring the game’s only goal was Mannarino, unassisted. As a result, DePaul finished off the series sweep with a 1-0 win and took second place in the Black Division standings.
 
 
Milwaukee School of Engineering sweeps Lewis University:
In their inaugural meeting as conference members, Milwaukee School of Engineering swept Lewis University during their home and home series. As of press time the game sheets had not been posted for a more detailed look at MSOE’s 3-2 and 5-3 victories.
 
Non-Conference Games:
#4 CUW split with #11 University of Wisconsin – Madison, losing 6-4 on Friday and winning 5-4 (SO) on Saturday.
Marian University was swept by #1 Lindenwood University, losing 8-1 on Saturday and 6-2 on Sunday.
UW Milwaukee at/v. Illinois State University, results not posted as of press time.
UW Oshkosh split with UW La Crosse, losing 4-3 on Friday and winning 6-1 on Saturday.
Roosevelt University at University of Illinois, results not posted as of press time.
 
Idle:
#16 Marquette University