Lake Region State College men’s hockey vs. Augustana, Dec. 7, 2025. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
DEVILS LAKE — Amidst a stretch of close games, Lake Region State College men’s hockey has nothing to show for it.
The Royals lost their ninth straight game on Sunday. But throughout the losing streak, no singular defeat has come by more than three goals.
“It seems like that’s the hard part, is to get out of this losing column,” LRSC head coach Brady Stein said. “Just got to find a way. Just bear down, and see what we can do.”
At one point this season, LRSC had a five-game winning streak. The Royals (7-12) fell 7-5 to Augustana on Sunday at Burdick Arena. It came a day after they lost 4-3 in overtime.
LRSC never had a lead. The Royals fought from behind the whole time, but they kept it close through the first two periods. Even in the third, they made a couple of late goals to stay out of blowout territory.
“Battled hard,” Stein said. “I’m glad we didn’t quit till the end.”
It was a high-scoring first period, with LRSC trailing 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Augustana’s Tyler Rundle scored two goals in the first period, including one at the 1:26 mark. After the Royals fell behind 1-0, the teams traded power play goals, with Chael Rozdeba (assisted by Matt Wherley) for LRSC and Ashton Griese for Augustana.
The Royals put pressure around the net but had a few near-goals come just short. With 6:55 left in the period, the Royals’ Brett Lesage and the Vikings’ Daylen Gibson were hit with roughing penalties at the same time.
Neither team scored during the 4-on-4. But, nine seconds after they returned to full strength, Rozdeba found the net for the second time, with an assist from former Devils Lake Firebird Brody Parker. It tied the game at 2-2.
Less than a minute later, Augustana retook the lead on Rundle’s second goal.
With 2:17 left in the first period, the teams got into a scuffle by the wall. LRSC’s Wherley was handed a five-minute stay in the penalty box and a game misconduct for checking from behind.
The Royals, though, managed to get through the five-minute disadvantage without surrendering any goals. Just seconds after returning to full strength in the second period, Theron McGregor scored a game-tying goal for LRSC. He had assists from Dylan Schneider and Ty Cavers.
But the Royals couldn’t score during a 5-on-3 advantage, and it came back to bite them. Augustana returned to full strength — after committing penalties a minute and eight seconds apart — then scored a goal of its own. LRSC goalie Jaden Kleinjan got taken out of the crease, and Augustana’s Jace Teveldal flung one in before Kleinjan could lunge back in position.
The open-net goal pushed Augustana ahead again, 4-3.
The Vikings went on to put the game away in the third period.
After LRSC didn’t score during a power play, Augustana scored twice in a span of under two minutes, extending the gap to 6-3.
“A few bounces,” Stein said of what allowed the Vikings to get in the net as many times as they did. “If we can stay out of the box a little bit, a few power plays hurt us on our end. But they’ve got a few top-end guys that are really solid, and we just couldn’t quite shut them down.”
The Royals got one back on a power play goal by Logan Dearborn. Rozdeba and Lesage had assists.
Augustana’s Teveldal scored his third goal of the game, an empty-net shot, with 2:34 left. Rozdeba squeezed in one more goal with 1:19 on the clock, but it was too little, too late, as LRSC fell by two.
Rozdeba, who totaled three goals, entered Sunday with five on the season. He’s now second on the team in goals and points.
“Outstanding,” Stein said. “He’s come a long way, and I’m excited to see where his future takes him in the next year and a half here still.”
LRSC totaled 52 shots on goal, including 26 in the final period. Kleinjan finished with 46 saves out of 53 Augustana shots on goal.
“They make it really hard on me,” Stein said of his goalies. “They do amazing at practice. They’re coming out and trying their hardest at games, giving it all they got. They help each other out there. They work really well together on and off the ice. It’s really nice to see that.”
Stein is also the interim women’s head coach. The women split their two games against Augustana this weekend.
The men have one game left before the new year, a road contest against Minot State University on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. Their next home action is a weekend slate against Minnesota State University Moorhead on Jan. 24 and 25.
