DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men's hockey returned to the ice after a 10-day break from action on Friday night as they welcomed the Milwaukee School of Engineering to ImOn Arena for NCHA conference action. The Spartans saw two goals in their return to the ice and showed great fight to force OT with the Raiders. Overtime was not enough as both teams earned at least one point on the night as the game ended in a 2-2 tie. The game went into a shootout to determine who would claim the second point in the conference standings, however, the Spartans fell 2-1 in the shootout.
 
The Spartans struck first late in the first period as Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth netted his first goal of the season with the assists from Zach Burfoot and Owen Hardy. After MSOE scored two goals in the second period, the Spartans answered to tie the game 2-2 with a two-man advantage power play goal from Max Messier with the assists from Nikita Borodayenko and Zach Burfoot. A defensive battle by both teams in overtime failed to provide a score and finished in a tie. In a shootout, the Raiders won the 2-1 in six rounds to claim two conference points in the standings.
 
The Spartans finished with 26 shots on goal with Nikita Borodayenko and Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth leading the way with four each. Max Messier had three shots to help lead the charge. Goaile Erik Chaffe played all 65:00 minutes of game time and made 33 saves.
 
The Spartans now fall to 0-13-3 on the season.
 
Up Next
The Spartans are back in action at home on Saturday January 18 for the second game of the conference series with MSOE. Opening puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m from ImOn Arena.