(Canton, MI) - CUAA men's hockey wrapped up their 2024-25 regular season Saturday evening with a matchup against the Aquinas Saints. The Cardinals looked to repeat the magic of last night's five goal comeback along with the honoring of six seniors for senior night. These seniors are Brenden Murray, Jackson Blough, Derek Hebner, Anthony Seykora, Brayden Tayles, and Carson Ediger. The Cardinals maintained that magic, and were able to bring home a big victory on senior night heading into the WHAC playoffs.
The first period started with some senior night magic, as Derek Hebner found the back of the net from the blue line off the crossbar. Assisting on that shot was Bryce Iott and Marek Drennan. Less than two minutes later, Garrett Benoit found the net on a rebound from a Joseph Lajcaj shot. Later in the period, Austin Gilmore of Aquinas wrapped his way to the net and put the score at 2-1 heading into the first intermission. Senior Anthony Seykora played a strong first period, compiling 13 saves and giving the Cardinals a lead with momentum. Both teams killed a power play during the period,, setting up what might be a defensive second period.
The second period was a defensive one for the Cardinals, as Connor Carroll took the net and stopped all nine shots on goal. The Cardinal offense, however, looked to continue with their offensive push. Joseph Lajcaj found the back of the net five minutes into the period off great passes from Murray and McCarthy Clark. A minute later chaos at the net ensued and Kolton Horn took advantage to put the Cardinals up 4-1, with assists awarded to Gavin Scally and Marek Drennan. The Aquinas Saints found themselves down a man for most of the remainder of the second period, and senior Jackson Blough was able to come up with his own goal as Iott and Drennan combined for assists once again. The Cardinals would head into the third period up 5-1 and in 5-on-4 play for the first 1:45.
Ryan Nickerson entered in the third period looking to help the Cardinals secure the victory, and he did just that adding nine saves. Bryce Iott started the third period scoring with assists from Ethan Lindle and Kyle Hebner to put the Cardinals up by five in a score similar to yesterday's. Around the ten minute mark, Aquinas responded with an unassisted goal to bring the lead down to four, trying to mimic the Cardinals' incredible comeback from last game. Lindle and Iott would have none of that, as seven seconds later they combined for a goal off of the faceoff to put the Cardinals back up five, and the game would end in that fashion.
The Cardinals are now one of the hottest teams in the WHAC heading into the playoffs, winners in six of their last eight. They will be back in action next Friday night on the road for the first round of the WHAC playoffs, with their opponent yet TBD.
