Friday, October 12, 2012

Lakers down Huskies in Home Opener

By Micheal David/LSSU Beat Writer

The Lake Superior State Lakers won their official home opener against U.P. rival and future WCHA foe, the Michigan Tech Huskies, 4-2 Thursday night. LSSU jumped on the board just 41 seconds into the game, when sophomore Kellan Lain shot the puck past MTU netminder Phoenix Copley. Senior captain Dominic Monardo would earn the only assist. The Lakers were given a five minute power play in the first also, but were unable to mount much offense from it.

In the second period, the Huskies took advantage of the Lakers inability to clear the puck, and slid a goal past Kevin Kapalka. Blake Pietila would get the goal, assisted by Milos Gordic and Tanner Kero. The Huskies would seize the momentum from there, and Kapalka was called upon to make some nice saves as Tech racked up the shots.

MTU would  take the lead early in the third period, with a power play goal by Dennis Rix. The Lakers would answer back just minutes later when Stephen Perfetto scored a nice goal set up by Lain and freshman Zach Loesch. Lake State then took a 3-2 lead when they finally broke through on the power play with Nick McParland getting the goal. Zach Sternberg and Chris Ciotti would earn the assists. The Lakers would add an insurance goal at the 15:31 mark, when freshman Eric Drapluk scored his first collegiate goal, with the assists going to Perfetto and Monardo.

The Lakers would end up 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Huskies were 1-for-5. In net, Copley made 18 saves for MTU, while Kapalka made 31. In all, this was a solid effort by both teams and a hard hitting game. It should make for an exciting re-match, as the Huskies host the Lakers Saturday night in Houghton at the McInnes Student Ice Arena.

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