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Marian University kicked off the scoring 3:34 into the opening stanza on a 3-on-1 deep in their offensive zone. Putting home the opening goal, five-hole, was Anthony Neal, assisted by Easton Nick. DePaul netted the equalizer at 11:45 when Josh Taloy fed, from behind the goal line as he was moving from corner to corner, a breaking hard for the net Anthony Martirano buried the one timer. The game’s first power play opportunity arose at 14:18 when Marian was whistled for tripping. Marian’s penalty kill was up to the task and kept DePaul from taking the lead, however, a minute later they were back on the ice. During the ensuing two minutes the best opportunity for a goal came on a Marian breakaway. Luckily for DePaul, Max Hetman came up with a big circus save.

 

Period two started with Marian and DePaul tied 1-1 and picked up right where they left off, both teams flying up and down the ice. Marian would get their first chance at the power play when DePaul was whistled for a tripping penalty at 4:57. DePaul’s penalty kill unit never let Marian establish a presence in their zone and as a result kept the game tied at one apiece. Jace Weber’s shot from the left point was heading for the corner but Gavyn Galloway was in the right spot and deflected it into the back of the net to put Marian back up on top. Eight seconds later a seemingly innocuous shot by Neal made its way by Hetman for a 3-1 Marian lead. A low shot from the point made it through traffic and got tipped by Jackson Sweeney at 12:16 to increase the Marian advantage to three. Ethan Skibbie-Slawinski made an outlet pass that bounced its way through three Marian players to Luc Delozier for a breakaway goal at 13:26, bringing DePaul within two. A fortuitous rebound found a wide open Delozier at 14:09 to narrow the gap back to one. However, Marian did not let DePaul ride that momentum for long and went back up by two at 14:45. Scoring their fifth goal was O’Neal, assisted by Nick. Marian was not finished and Cayden Frenette reestablished their three goal lead at 17:57. Devon Butler was all alone in the slot and one-timed a pass from O’Neal to give Marian their largest lead of the game with 34 seconds remaining in the period.

 

Entering the third period, DePaul found themselves looking at a four goal deficit. A Marian slashing penalty at 3:02 gave DePaul a chance to swing the momentum back their way but they could not light the lamp. At 6:29 DePaul would get another chance. This time they were able to get a couple of chances, however, DePaul came up empty again. What looked to be a scoreless period, after 10 combined goals in the first 40 minutes of play, ended with 24.5 seconds remaining when Brandon Fain scored Marian’s eighth goal, earning them a spot in the semifinals.