By Michael David/LSSU Beat Writer
In one of the marquee matchups of the weekend, the 18th ranked Lake Superior State Lakers travelled to Oxford, Ohio to take on CCHA rival 16th ranked Miami Redhawks.
Fridays highly contested game went into overtime to decide a winner, as the Lakers edged Miami 3-2 on the back of two power play goals.
The Redhawks opened the scoring in the first period, but the Lakers responded when Nick McParland scored at 18:25 to tie the game at one. Assisting on the goal were sophomore defenceman Matt Bruneteau and junior forward Dominic Mondardo.
Miami would score early in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but the Lakers would cash in on the power-play, when McParland scored his second goal of the night. Defenceman Kyle Haines and Zack Trotman would earn assists.
After a scoreless third period, Trotman would score another power-play goal to give the Lakers the win in overtime. This time it would be McParland earning the assist, along with Monardo.
Kevin Kapalka would make 29 saves for the Lakers, who went 2-6 on the power-play. Lake State held Miami 0-5 with the man advantage.
On Saturday night, the Lakers would score early and often, and hold the Redhawks for the sweep, winning 5-3.
Nick McParland stayed hot for LSSU, scoring the games first goal at 8:45 of the first period, assisted by Monardo and Kyle Jean. The Lakers would extend their lead to 2-0 in the first, when Jean scored a goal of his own assisted by McParland.
LSSU would keep the pressure on in the second period as well. Colin Campbell extended the Laker lead to 3-0 on a goal assisted by freshman defender Kevin Czuczman. The assist would be Czuczman's first collegiate point. The eventual game winner would come off the stick of Kellen Lain on a goal set up by Campbell.
The Redhawks would storm back, though, with back-to-back short handed goals to cut the Lakers lead to 4-2 before the end of the second.
Miami then scored a goal at 13:48 of the third stanza, to make things interesting. The Lakers were able to hold off the Redhawk attack, and Monardo would put the game away for his team by scoring on a break away. The unassisted goal would give LSSU back it's two-goal cushion at 5-3.
The Lakers killed off a late penalty to secure the win, and Kevin Kapalka was solid in net again, making 28 saves for his seventh win of the season. LSSU and Miami were a combined 0-6 on the power play.
This is the first sweep of the Redhawks by LSSU since the 2007 CCHA Playoffs, where the Lakers eliminated Miami with back-to-back 2-1 victories.
The Lakers are still alone on top of the CCHA standings with 15 points after the sweep. Next weekend the Lakers host the Bemidji State Beavers of the WCHA in non-conference action.
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