HANCOCK — It would be easy to look at just the numbers from the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey team’s weekend in Green Bay, Wisconsin, against the St. Norbert Green Knights and think the Lions were outmatched in their effort.

The Lions were outscored 16-2, and, at times, found themselves chasing the game in front of them.

In reality, they were dealt a tough hand, considering that they lost multiple players to injury throughout the course of the weekend, and they felt that the officiating did not do them any favors as well.

“We had to take Connor (Hannon) out (Saturday),” said Lions coach Joe Burcar. “We lost Tommy Peterson. His hip literally popped out of the joint, so he’s out, Connor’s out. We’re moving guys back and forth for the remaining part of the game. ‘We need a couple guys up front now. We need guys back.’ We’re shuffling the deck.”

Friday night, the Lions fell behind 1-0 on a Green Knights power play goal 10:29 in. They gave up a second goal less than four minutes later.

From there, Finlandia settled in and the teams traded chances until sophomore forward Lee Pietila broke through with his first goal of the season 1:45 into the third. Senior winger Blake Peavey picked up an assist on the tally.

The Lions were then whistled for the game’s next six straight penalties after the two teams traded penalties for the first 43:57 of the contest.

The Green Knights scored twice on power plays and added two more goals before the final buzzer sounded in a 6-1 loss for Finlandia.

Despite everything that went down over the final 11 minutes, Burcar felt his team did some good things, but not quite enough to beat a tough team on the road.

“Friday night, we score in the third to make it 2-1 with 11:15 to go and it’s funny how the game turned then we had to kill off for penalties in that 11-minute span.

“They’re very good. We have to play a perfect game and I will say we didn’t. We played pretty good for 45 minutes of the game, and you can’t do that against a team like that.”

Saturday’s contest saw the Green Knights take four straight penalties in the first period, but still come out of the opening 20 minutes with a 3-0 lead. Junior goaltender Santeri Seppinen was run into by a Green Knights skater during the game, but no call was made on the play.

“Santeri, who started that game, got into a big net front collision,” Burcar said. “He laid on the ice for a while. He recovered, but he stayed in the game. He was fine.”

St. Norbert scored again early in the second to take a 4-0 lead before sophomore center Tyler Watungwa got one back for the Lions when he scored at 9:49.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the Green Knights scored the game’s next six goals.

Despite taking two losses on the weekend, the Lions playoff hopes did not change. The two teams above them in the NCHA North Division, St. Scholastica and Lawrence, both were swept on the weekend. The Saints remains just one point ahead of the Lions and are currently mired in an eight-game losing streak. The Vikings, who have dropped five in a row, are just three points ahead of the Lions.

“You could not ask for a better scenario for us,” Burcar said, “(Our goal has) always been to make the playoffs.

That’s the No. 1 goal here.

“Once you make the playoffs, then you readjust. You talk about the playoffs and you reset your goals. It’s in fighting distance.”

The Lions will play a home-and-home with the Saints that starts Thursday, Feb. 6, in Duluth, Minnesota, and ends Friday, Feb. 7, at home. The following weekend, Finlandia remains at home to face Marian, who has already clinched a playoff spot.

Despite their struggles, Burcar still feels that his team can finish strong and find themselves in the discussion for the NCHA playoffs.

“As frustrating as this weekend has been it’s not who we are,” he said. “I think we’re extremely banged up. We’re still a point out in the last place (in the playoff picture), three points of third. We need this. We have this off this week off, which we need. We just need this off week.”