AURORA, Ill. – After a heartbreaking loss to end the Adrian series last weekend, MSOE hockey was looking to right the ship when they headed to Illinois to take on Aurora for the first time this season. While the game almost got away from them, the Raiders were able to hold off the Spartans and come away with an overtime victory.

FINAL SCORE IN OVERTIME
MSOE Raiders – 5
Aurora – 4

HOW IT HAPPENED
MSOE (5-4-0, 1-3-0 NCHA South) entered tonight's contest with just one point in three outings, something that needed to change if they have hopes of seeing the Harris Cup playoffs in 2021. Garrett Gintoli helped the team take a step in that direction when he scored the first goal of the game at 15:22 in the first period. The Raiders went on to score three in the second frame, two of which came on the power play. Kevin Paganini scored the first and second goals of his young Raider career while Nigel Nelson added the third. Aurora (2-1-0, 2-1-0 NCHA South) netted one of their own but it was the Red and White that held a three-goal lead heading into the last period. Unfortunately, it would be in that very period that the Spartans added three more tallies to their total. MSOE was held scoreless in the final 20 minutes which forced extra hockey. Unlike the first time the Raiders saw overtime this season, they were the ones to end the contest. Gintoli added his second point of the evening when he set up Jeff Makowski for the game winner at 3:37, giving the Red & White their first NCHA victory of the season.

RAIDER REMARKS

• The Raiders made sure to take advantage when there was the extra man on the ice, scoring on three of their four power play chances.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Shots – Garrett Gintoli (6)
Goals – Kevin Paganini (2)
Assists – Jack Nickels and Matt Hanewall (2)
Points – Five with two
Saves – Logan Halladay (46)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will return home tomorrow afternoon and will attempt to come away with all four points of the series when they drop the puck against Aurora at 3:00 pm.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.go-raiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.