IU hockeys 5-game win streak stalls over weekend

The IU ice hockey team (5-1-1) had Davenport University on the ropes Friday night as the third period clock wound down.\nAfter freshman Wes Suskind scored with 2:21 remaining to give IU a 4-3 lead, it appeared the team would be adding another hard-fought victory to its season-opening five-game winning streak. \nThe momentum was short-lived, however, as the game ended in a tie. Still, the result was better than that of Saturday’s game, which ended in the Hoosiers’ first loss of the season.\nSophomore forward Joe Fornari was called for a two-minute minor charging penalty soon after Suskind’s goal. Davenport, last season’s American Collegiate Hockey Association second-place finisher, pulled its goalie to gain a two-man advantage.\nIn Davenport’s frenzied attempt to score, Dayne Gluting was able to squeeze a shot underneath IU freshman goalie Justin Lincoln’s legs with just 19 seconds remaining to force the tie. \nNeither team scored in overtime, leaving the score at a tie, 4-4, and ending IU’s winning streak. \n“The teams put so much effort in the regular periods that both teams were a little short on stamina by the end of the overtime,” associate head coach Tom Orr said. “It was really just a lot of people playing on heart doing the best they could. It was a standstill in overtime because the guys were just so tired. The scoreboard doesn’t indicate how well we played.”\nThe game went back and forth from the beginning, as both teams traded goals in the first and second periods. With a 2-2 tie going into the third, the teams again traded a pair of goals early in the third period. Senior forward Dan Karlander scored for IU with 15:15 remaining, but Davenport responded halfway through the last period, setting up the end-of-game heroics.\n“We thought we had it in the bag,” Suskind said. “Better luck next time, I guess.”\nIU took the ice the following afternoon in a rematch against Davenport. The hockey game competed for the fans’ attention with IU’s homecoming football game, already in progress. Most of the crowd would file out between periods to catch as much of the football game as possible on TV in the Frank Southern Ice Arena.\nInside the rink, Davenport used the momentum from the night before to jump out to a 3-0 first period lead. \nAfter replacing Lincoln – who was suffering from a minor knee injury – with sophomore backup goalie Sal Calace, IU played an even 2-2 game for the last two periods, and Davenport handed IU its first loss, 5-2. Senior defenseman Brad Kirchner and sophomore forward Chris Bartholomew scored IU’s two goals.\n“Both teams had played such a physical, tiring game Friday night,” Orr said. “It was just one of those things that (Davenport) got the first few breaks and put us in a hole.”\nThe team’s struggles got the best of junior forward Adam Fishbein, who got into a fight with Davenport’s Will Collar midway through the second period.\n“We weren’t playing well,” Fishbein said. “You got to do something to get the boys going. I thought we played substantially better afterwards. It’s part of hockey, it’s what you got to do sometimes.”\nIn accordance with league rules, Fishbein will be suspended for this Friday night’s game against DePaul. The team faces the Blue Demons twice at home over the weekend before playing the next six games on the road.