MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Beloit College Buccaneers dropped to 0-2-0 on the season this evening, falling 6-1 to MSOE in front of 204 fans at the Kern Center. Beloit was outshot 53-13, and only a 47-save performance from goaltender Mitch Taylor (Hamburg, NY) kept the score from getting further out of hand.
Beloit trailed 2-0 after a first period in which MSOE scored at 2:24 and 13:25. The Buccaneers found life midway through the second. At 9:38, J.D. Shoniker (Burlington, ON) cut the deficit to 2-1 at even strength, finishing a play set up by Landon Adams and Mario Bernard.
The goal was Shoniker's first of the season, and the trio made the most of its shift: Shoniker, Landon Adams (St. Paul, MN) and Mario Bernard (Bloomington, MN) were the only Beloit skaters to finish the night with a positive plus/minus (+1 each). Adams, who added a third assist on the year, also put two shots on goal and was one of several Buccaneers to test MSOE goaltender Philip Rondina.
If not for goaltender Taylor, the final margin could have been far worse. MSOE put 53 shots on target, including 21 in the second period, and Taylor stopped 47 of them over a full 60 minutes. He turned aside 16 of 18 shots in the first, 18 of 21 in the second and 13 of 14 in the third. MSOE attempted 87 shots overall, and Beloit's skaters blocked 11 of them. Defensemen Zach Lacasse (Wildwood, MO) and Cooper Anderson (Marquette, MI) and forward Will McDonald (Madison, Wis.) each had two of the team's 11 blocks.
Beloit finished with 13 shots on goal (4 in the first, 5 in the second, 4 in the third) and came within inches of a second goal in the third period, when Luke VanBaalen (Waterford, MI) rang a shot off the pipe at 1:29 and Ethan Rubin (Long Grove, IL) did the same at 7:49. Shots on goal were spread evenly: Adams, Zach Hutchinson (West Salem, WI), McDonald and Sky Solig (Warroad, MN) each had two.
The Buccaneers could not cash in on the man advantage, going 0-for-3 on the power play. Beloit generated two shots on those chances, including a Nathan Hinze (Chaska, MN) attempt that was blocked and a Valerii Kneib (Dmitrov, Russia) shot that Rondina stopped. They also had to kill off four MSOE power plays, and gave up a power-play goal to Nick Sinani with 34 seconds left in the second period to make it 5-1.
Nick Sinani led the Raiders with two goals and an assist and was named first star. The goal scorers were Sam Schoenfeld (2:24 first), Casey Roepke (13:25 first), Sinani (13:48 second), Sam Evert (17:00 second), Sinani again on the power play (19:26 second) and Rylan Jockims (14:03 third). Sam Lyons and Ethan Mann were named second and third stars. Rondina made 12 saves for the win, and MSOE won the faceoff battle 48-23. Hinze was Beloit's best on the dot, going 6-6, while Shoniker went 4-for-17.
The Buccaneers and Raiders meet again tomorrow afternoon. Puck drop from the Woodman's Center in Janesville is set for 2 pm.
