MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin men's ice hockey team fell, 3-5, to No. 11 Trine in their first Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) game of the season. The Falcons are now 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in NCHA play.
 
CUW faced an uphill battle from the start with the Thunder coming in as the 11th-ranked team in the country. The visitors started off hot with four unanswered goals between the first two periods. In hopes to prevent a shutout, the Falcons pushed on offense.
 
Relief came when the Royal Blue and Grey scored three unanswered goals of their own. The first goal came nearly 15 minutes into the second period by sophomore Jack Guvenal (Georgetown, Ont.). Assisted by freshman Cooper Brown (Airdrie, Alberta) and junior Matt Koepke (Vernon Hills, Ill.), Guvenal pushed through the Thunder defense for his first goal of the season.
 
Connor Van Weelie scored the final two goals, just two minutes apart, in the third period. Van Weelie's first goal came off passes from senior Noah Roitman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and junior Riley Klugerman (Aurora, Ont.), which helped him tip in the puck near the net.
 
Van Weelie's second goal of the night came on a Falcon power play. As the penalty was called on the Thunder, head coach Jim Mosso called a time out to relay a plan of action to his players. Just five seconds after the puck drop, Guvenal and Klugerman set up a short shot for Van Weelie to take. The puck found the top right corner to lessen Trine's lead to one.
 
In hopes to tie the game, CUW pulled their goalie in the final seconds of the game to add an extra skater on the ice. Unfortunately, the Thunder found a way to get past the Falcon defense to score on an empty net and cement their win.
 
Concordia was able to out-shoot Trine 37 to 33. Leading the way was Van Weelie with seven, Guvenal tallied five. In faceoffs, senior Derek Humphreys (Spokane, Wash.) had the best time at the circle, winning 10-of-15.
 
In goal for the Falcons was junior Blake Hazelton (Lake Orion, Mich.) playing just of 59 minutes of the contest. Hazelton make a season high 28 saves and let in four goals. The junior is now 1-1 on the season.
 
The Thunder and Falcons will return to the Ozaukee Ice Center to play the final game of the series. Puck drip is slated for 4 p.m.