ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sometimes, change can be slow, other times, it can happen in a heartbeat. For the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey team, their change from being an also-ran in the NCHA is more the former than the latter.

It doesn’t help when they do not get any help along the way.

The Lions held a 2-0 lead last Friday night against Marian just 1:33 into the third period. That is when things went sideways.

Drawing into a defensive stance, the Lions, who have held just two leads all season through their first 10 games, surrendered two goals in 2:08 to all the Sabres to even the score and force overtime.

“After our two goals, they called a timeout,” said head coach Burcar. “We really went into a defensive mode and sat on our heels.”

Then, things went from bad to worse.

With just 2.4 seconds left in regulation, the Lions had a faceoff in their own end of the rink. After the buzzer sounded to end the period, Burcar was informed that one of the linesman called a penalty on the play for a delay of game to the Lions’ top center, sophomore Blake Peavy.

It took the Sabres, who have one of the best power plays in the country, just 30 seconds to earn the victory.

It is the fourth time in Burcar’s second tenure with the Lions that they have had a call late in a contest affect the outcome, an issue that is beginning to frustrate the veterans.

“Last year, we had two referee crews come and apologize to us weeks later,” said Burcar. “I think it is easy to call penalties against Finlandia. I think it is very obvious. The inconsistent calls are getting frustrating. Let us decide the game.”

Saturday night, the nature of the loss was still fresh on the minds of the Lions, who stepped into a game with the Lawrence Vikings and, 60 minutes later, skated out with a 9-2 loss to a Vikings’ squad that improved to 4-6-1 on the season.

The Lions are 0-9-1 this season, and 0-34-1 under Burcar in his second go-around with the team. While the record doesn’t show it, the Lions are improving in other areas. Junior Bryce Mitzel and Peavy, both transfers, have begun to find their scoring touch, as they have five and four points, respectively.

By comparison, then-freshman Daniel Sarnecki and junior Matt Benolkin led the way for the season last year with seven points each through 25 games.

Both Mitzel and Peavy have scored on the power play, which is slowly improving as well.

This weekend, the Lions head back out on the road to face St. Thomas and Wisconsin-Superior. The Tommies are 5-3-1 overall and are riding a three-game winning streak. The Yellowjackets are 3-7-1 this season and are 1-1-2 in their last four games.

GAME TIMES

Tonight, the Lions and Tommies faceoff at 8:30 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena. Tomorrow, the Lions and Yellowjackets will faceoff at 805 p.m. at Wessman Arena.