GENEVA, Ill. – MSOE men's hockey entered the final game of the 2022-23 regular season locked in to a road series to begin the postseason but still wanted to finish strong against No. 10 Aurora. It looked like that was going to happen too before the Spartans put together a massive third period to deal the Raiders a one goal loss.

FINAL SCORE
MSOE RAIDERS – 6
#10 Aurora – 7

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Things looked good early on for MSOE (14-11, 9-9 NCHA) as they scored the first periods only two goals. The game opening tally was netted by CJ Kline off passes from Ty Ebeling and Jackson Hughes at 11:23 before Matt Hanewall and Brennan Dickey set up Gramm McCormack's power play strike four minutes later.
• The Raiders were the first to get on the board in the second to make it 3-0 (Hanewall from Christian Sabin) before No. 10 Aurora (17-6-2, 13-3-2 NCHA) scored two straight to pull within one. The Red & White answered right back though with two goals in 1:37. First was Kyle Herbster from Sabin and Stuart Harley which was followed by Harley and Kevin Paganini assisting on Carson Jones' first goal of the game. Both strikes allowed MSOE to enter the final period up 5-2.
• Unfortunately, the Red & White lead would not hold up. The Spartans scored the first two goals to once again get within one but it appeared that the Raiders halted the comeback with Jones' second of the game from McCormack and Paganini. That wasn't the case, however. Aurora scored three more goals, all within three minutes of each other to take the lead for the first time in the contest. MSOE didn't have an answer and had to settle for a 7-6 loss in their regular season finale.

RAIDER REMARKS

• The two goals scored by Carson Jones were his first since he netted one against Lawrence back on November 19^th.
• The Raiders didn't have much luck at the dot and only won 37 of the 83 total faceoffs in the game.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Shots – Carson Jones (7)
Goals – Carson Jones (2)
Assists – Three with two
Saves – Nick Stofcheck (7)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders are now locked into the fifth seed in the NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs and will start their postseason journey in a two game series (plus mini game if necessary) at (RV) Trine on Friday afternoon. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 pm central time.

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.