Men's ACHA Division II ice hockey went 2-1 in three games played at the Miami University (Ohio) Showcase January 19-21 at the Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio. Lindenwood stopped Lake Superior State University in overtime 3-2 on Friday, but dropped a tough overtime contest to Florida Gulf Coast 4-3 Saturday evening before rebounding for a 4-2 victory over Liberty University Sunday afternoon.

In the opener against the Lakers, the Lions fell behind in the first period 1-0 when they gave up a backdoor shot on a LSSU power play. Lake Superior doubled that advantage in the second when a broken play gave the Lakers an odd man rush with a finishing shot over the high blocker, but Lindenwood came back in the third.
Michael Mullen scored off a pass from Stanley Lucas at 3:33 with Sam Watson earning the second assist, then Gage Vierzba tied the game at the 7:17 mark. After Austin Meers made a good play to secure the puck in the corner, he fed to Zac Maupin who set up Vierzba on a backdoor play.

After the remainder of the period ticked away, the two teams went to an overtime period and the Lions gained a five-on-three power play after Lake Superior penalties. Watson won the ensuing faceoff and with control of the puck, Lindenwood set up a play that circled the puck back to Watson who scored the game-winner off a pass from Meers with Ryan Granville earning the second assist.

The Lions outshot the Lakers 62-26 and Justin Grenon stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal.

Lindenwood ended up on the other side of an overtime game-winner against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. In a rare hockey contest without any penalty calls, the first period went scoreless despite the Lions outshooting the Eagles 16-4.

FGCU took a 1-0 lead early in the second, but Mullen erased the deficit on a play set up by Jacob Behnen and Watson at 10:45. Lindenwood took a 2-1 advantage when Mason Kruger sounded the horn off a pass from Anthony Tinsley at the 4:19 mark of the third, but FGCU responded at the midway point of the period.

In a 2-2 tie, the final three minutes of regulation and overtime proved to be fast and furious. Watson scored his 12^th of the season with help from Stanley Lucas with 2:03 remaining, but the Lakers forced overtime with just 10-seconds on the clock, and then won the game at the 2:16 mark of overtime.

Lindenwood outshot Florida Gulf Coast 49-37 and Ethan Paulin-Hatch stopped 33 of 37 shots in the hard-luck loss.

The Lions wrapped up the weekend with another comeback victory against Liberty. After falling behind 2-1 after two periods, they rallied with three unanswered.

The opening 20-minutes went by without any scoring, but Sean McMahon changed that at 10:17 of the second when he blasted the puck home on a play set up by Adam Rischbieter and Logan Millhausen. Lindenwood had a chance to increase the lead late in the period after the Flames were called for tripping at 19:45, but just seven seconds into the power play, a turnover led to a short-handed goal, and the Lions gave up another goal as the horn sounded, ending the middle frame with Lindenwood trailing 2-1.

After a relatively clean first 40-minutes, there were seven different penalties called in the third. The first call against Liberty led to a Mullen power play goal at 6:53, assisted by Watson and Granville. With 5:50 remaining in regulation, McClellan was called for cross-checking, but the Flames were given a five-minute major boarding penalty. McMahon took advantage with his second goal of the game and ninth of the season at 17:53, with help from Austin Meers and Kruger.

Now trailing 3-2, Liberty pulled its goaltender with 1:14 remaining, but Meers turned the tables with a steal and empty-net shot to seal the victory for the Lions.
Lindenwood outshot the Flames 39-28 and Paulin-Hatch stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced to earn the win in goal.

The Lions improved to 23-8 on the season. They return to home ice for a two-game set against Drury University January 27-28. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. Saturday night and at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.