APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's hockey team rallied for a 4-4 overtime tie with UW-Eau Claire on Tuesday in a nonconference contest at the Appleton Ice Center.
    The Vikings trailed 4-1 with less than four minutes left in the second period, but Lawrence scored two times late in the second and added another tally in the third to force the overtime. Lawrence is now unbeaten (5-0-2) in its last seven games.
    Four different players scored for the Vikings (10-9-4), and Kyle Gierman picked up a pair of assists.
    The Vikings got on the board first when Cory Checco scored on the power play early in the game. Checco pounced on a rebound and beat Ryan Ouellette for a 1-0 lead at the 4:13 mark. Zach Lodes and Will Crull both collected assists on the goal.
    Eau Claire (11-11-1) scored twice in a span of 45 seconds midway through the first period to grab a 2-1 advantage, and the Blugolds expanded the lead in the second.    
    Kyle Oleksiuk scored his second goal of the game at the 2:15 mark of the second to give Eau Claire a 3-1 lead. A misplayed puck near the Lawrence goal gave Austin Becker a goal at the 16:28 mark, and the Blugolds led 4-1. 
    The Vikings started to climb back into the game when Matt Meininger's shot from the point found the back of the net at 17:18 to trim the lead to 4-2. Gierman and Zack Olen both had assists on that goal.
    After Connor Koviak was whistled for tripping less than a minute later, the Vikings went on the power play. Will Robertson's backhander to an open net at 19:11 trimmed the lead to 4-3. Gierman and Ivan Galaguzov both collected assists on the power-play goal. 
    Lawrence finished 2-for-5 on the power play, and Eau Claire was 0-for-3.
    The Vikings tied it at 4:58 when Curtis Weyerhaeuser got the puck to James Scott near the top of the right face-off circle. Scott rifled a shot into the upper corner of the net to tie it at 4-4.
    The game went to the five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime and both teams had four shots on goal in the extra period. Lawrence had the best chance when Vincent Dekumbis' shot just went wide.
    Brian Tallieu made 34 saves for the Vikings, and Ouellette stopped 22 shots for the Blugolds.
    Lawrence returns to action on Friday when the Vikings open a two-game series with Trine to wrap up the regular season.