The Aurora University men's hockey team fell behind early to the visiting Raiders of Milwaukee School of Engineering and went on to lose 5-3.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Milwaukee School of Engineering 5, Aurora University 3
LOCATION: Geneva, Illinois – Fox Valley Ice Arena
RECORDS: Aurora University 4-17-1; 4-12-1 NCHA; Milwaukee School of Engineering 10-7-5; 7-6-4 NCHA
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
MSOE opened up the first period with a goal 3:40 into the contest and tallied twice more to take a 3-0 lead into intermission.
The visitors scored a pair of even strength goals in the second period to build a 5-0 lead on AU.
After a goalie change brought on Jared Rutledge, AU responded with a goal. After winning the face off, Liam Stirtzinger scored with an assist from Drew Doyon.
AU controlled a lot of the action in the third period in an attempt to form a come back.
Early on the third, Drew Doyon scored an even strength tally with an assist from Tony Pnewski and Liam Stirtzinger.
With just over seven minutes left, the Spartans brought the deficit closer with Doyon scoring again on the power play. He was assisted by Rihards Marenis and Liam Stirtzinger.
The Spartans had several grade a scoring chances in the final minutes but were unable to pull any closer before falling 5-3.
 
TOP SPARTAN PERFORMERS
Drew Doyon had two goals and one assist while going 13-of-21 from the dot.
Liam Stirtzinger had a goal and two assists.
Jared Rutledge had 12 saves with no goals allowed in 27 minutes of action.
 
SPARTAN STAT LEADERS
Points: Liam Stirtzinger and Drew Doyon (3)
Goals: Drew Doyon (2) and Liam Stirtzinger (1)
Assists: Liam Stirtzinger (2), Drew Doyon, Tony Pnewski and Rihards Marenis (1)
Saves: Max Kirkwood (14) and Jared Rutledge (12)
Face offs: Drew Doyon (13-of-21) and Luke Picek (9-of-16)
 
UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's hockey team comes on Saturday, February 11 when they travel to Milwaukee School of Engineering. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.