MILWAUKEE – MSOE men's hockey entered the weekend needing to take care of business and get some help in order to lock down home ice advantage in the first round of the upcoming NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately, the Raiders couldn't put together much offense against the tenth best team in the land as Aurora took home the three goal victory inside the Kern Center on Friday night.

FINAL SCORE
#10 Aurora – 4
MSOE RAIDERS – 1

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first period featured a feeling out process between MSOE (14-10, 9-8 NCHA) and No. 10 Aurora (16-6-2, 12-3-2 NCHA). The Raiders had nine shots on goal compared to the Spartans six but neither team found the back of the net as we moved to the middle stanza with no score.
• Unfortunately, it was all AU in the second. Though they only outshot the Red & White 13-10, three of those attempts found their way into the back of the MSOE net, the last of which was scored on the power play with less than two seconds left before the intermission.
• However, the Raiders responded right back in the third period with a goal 59 seconds in. Charlie Skinner was the beneficiary of passes from Kevin Paganini and Hayden Dalton to move the Red & White within two. MSOE went 0-3 on their extra man chances and couldn't break through the rest of the way though. Aurora added an insurance strike at 16:17 and took home the 4-1 win.  

RAIDER REMARKS

• If the Raiders are going to win the Harris Cup Playoffs, they're going to have to start off the journey with a quarterfinal series win on the road. With tonight's loss, the Raiders are locked in to either the fifth or six seed and no home ice advantage in the first round.
• Overall, the Red & White went 0-6 on the power play. Aurora didn't fair much better as they went 1-4. 

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Shots – Kyle Herbster (5)
Goals – Charlie Skinner (1)
Assists – Kevin Paganini & Hayden Dalton (1)
Saves – Austin Schwab (23)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will wrap up the regular season with the return game against No. 10 Aurora tomorrow night. Game time from Geneva, Ill. is slated for 7:00 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.