Senior Dino Balsamo scored his second goal of the game on the power play with 17 seconds left in regulation to help Adrian College skate to a 4-4 overtime tie with visiting MSOE on Saturday. Freshman Alessio Luciani led Adrian in the face-off circle by winning 10 of 17 draws, and he scored the first goal of the game. Classmate Nic Tallarico had a career-high 31 saves in net, making several spectacular stops to help the Bulldogs gain a point. Sophomore Rex Moe tied Balsamo with four shots on goal–leading all skaters.
First Star of the Game Matt Hanewall recorded a hat trick among a game-high four points. Jack Nickels registered two assists. Garrett Gintoli had a goal and an assist with 11 face-off wins in 22 attempts. David Marabella (13-for-20) and Stian Owens (8-for-15) led MSOE on face-offs. Goalie Rock Boynton had 33 saves on 37 shots faced.
For the game, Adrian held a slim shots on goal advantage of 37-35. The Bulldogs forced another five-minute extra session while working on the power play and pulling Tallarico for a 6-on-4 opportunity as the strategy paid off when Balsamo–standing in front of the goal–tipped home senior Joey Colatarci’s slap shot from the blue line. MSOE dominated the overtime with four shots (to one for AC), but Tallarico kept the Raiders off the scoreboard to end the game.
VIKINGS / BULLDOGS BROADCAST INFO:
NCAA Regular Season Conference Contest
Lawrence University Vikings @ Adrian Bulldogs
Date: Friday, January 24th | Time: 7:00 pm ET
Location: Arrington Ice Arena – Adrian, Michigan
TV: Adrian College Television | Radio: 107.9 WVAC-FM
Adrian took a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Luciani found the back of the net just 71 seconds after the opening face-off after taking a feed from sophomore Brandon Marinelli. Jack Nickels took advantage of a failed clear by the Bulldogs out of their zone and found Hanewall for his first goal of the day to tie it up at 10:55. But Adrian went back up by one at the 18:24 mark when Balsamo netted his first tally of the afternoon on assists from senior Matt McNair and sophomore Andrew Bellant.
MSOE thought it had a second goal in the first period, but Will Gauthier’s shot appeared to hit the crossbar and right post, and immediately ruled no goal by the referee standing behind the cage. The teams traded goals in the second period. Garrett Gintoli tied the score 2-2 for MSOE on the power play at 13:16 on a pass by Nickels. Then 3 minutes and 27 seconds later, junior defenseman Joshua Owings put Adrian back up by a goal when he wristed his shot from the point through traffic and past Boynton just inside the right post.
In the third period, MSOE went up 4-3 on two goals by Hanewall at 13:25 on the power play and 17:51. Adrian, however, dug deep got the game-tying goal 1:52 later by Balsamo. MSOE was 2-for-3 on power plays and Adrian was 1-for-2.
Adrian owns a 38-6-4 all-time series lead over MSOE, including a 22-4-4 mark at home. The Bulldogs have played in a school-record four consecutive overtime games. Bellant leads Adrian with 23 points on eight goals and a team-high 15 assists (with sophomore Sam Ruffin). Balsamo takes over the Bulldog lead with 10 goals as he is third with 19 points. Yesterday’s game between the teams also ended in a 4-4 tie, with Adrian getting a late goal in regulation by McNair with 58 seconds remaining.
Watch the entire broadcast from Adrian College Television below:
This article was written using a press release and information generated by Adrian College’s sports information department and Patrick Stewart. It is nearly entirely a repost of the original press release. For more college sports, follow us on Twitter @MWSNsports or like our page on Facebook.
