Eastern’s RSO hockey team settled for a split this weekend against the University of Missouri at the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville.

It was a come-from-behind victory in game one where Eastern was down through most of the game and then came back for the 7-5 victory.

But the same come back would not apply in game two, however, as after an early 1-0 Eastern lead it would be all University of Missouri from then on.

At 11:23, the 1-0 lead was up on a U of M drive to the net to tie it at one and by the end of the first, Missouri took a 2-1 advantage.

A stagnant second period would come back to haunt Eastern more than it would Missouri as even one score by Eastern in the period could have tied the game down the stretch and forced an overtime.

Yet, things still looked well within reach with a 2-1 score and 20 minutes left on the clock.

Life seemed to be taken out of Eastern’s skates after another score five and a half minutes into the period, making it 3-1 now.

After an acrobatic Dale Michonski, who was skating backward while slapping it in for the 3-2 score, that life was restored.momentarily.

Just moments later Missouri answered with a score of their own, taking the air of Eastern’s tires, but after Dan Seachrist flip-flopped one in near the crease with still 6:26 left, Eastern appeared to have the momentum.

Despite tightening up on the defensive end, which included a huge save by Eric Grap down the stretch (he did the splits to avoid the score on a breakaway), the offense just couldn’t get one through to tie the 4-3 deficit.

Grap was even pulled in the closing half minute to make it a 6 on 3 Eastern advantage, but they still weren’t able to put one through.

“You know, we really didn’t go wrong,” head coach Cameron Estes said. “Yeah, we would have liked to have had a tie or an overtime loss coming out, at least give us another point coming out, but if you look at if you look at the way we play them, we showed them a lot.”

Estes said he was satisfied with the split, especially since the University of Missouri is one of the better teams in Eastern’s Gold Division.

Eastern, 10-9, will now have a break from their games until they face Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the East Alton Arena January 19.