Lakers Swept by Notre Dame in CCHA Opener

CCHA referee Kevin Hall felt like injecting himself into the game early on Thursday evening calling LSSU freshman Rick Schofield for hooking during a delayed holding penalty giving Notre Dame a consecutive 4 minutes of power play starting at 7:48 of the first period. The Irish capitalized with Ryan Thang scoring a power play goal at 10:43 of the first period. LSSU was able to capitalize with a power play goal of their own with Nathan Perkovich scoring his 4th goal of the season 16 seconds into the Lakers one man advantage, Zac MacVoy received the assist on the goal. Notre Dame took the lead, 1-2, with an even strength goal at 18:22 of the first period. Notre Dame added to their lead scoring their third goal of the game 17 seconds into the second period and a 4th goal at 4:20 of the second stanza. Schofield was able to make an amends for his earlier penalities by scoring his first colligate goal at 8:08 of the second period, with Steve Olesky getting his first assist of the season on the goal. Midway through the second period the Lakers fell apart after ND’s Ian Cole checked first year Laker Zac MacVoy from behind at mid ice, MacVoy skated the width of the ice and high-sticked Evan Rankin in retaliation then appeared to throw a punch at Dan VeNard after the wistle, resulting in a 2 minute high-sticking penalty, 5 minute cross-checking penalty and given a 10minute disqualification for the skirmish. Notre Dame scored two power play goals during the resulting power play and an additional goal 40 seconds into the third period to bring the score to 2-7. Laker Josh Sim notched his first goal of the season at 8:28 of the third period with Troy Schwab getting the assist on the goal. LSSU sophomore goaltender Pat Inglis recorded 20 saves on 27 Notre Dame shots. LSSU was able to put 3 of 15 shots past ND goaltender Jordan Pearce. LSSU was 1-for-4 on the power play while ND was 3-for-5 with the extra man. Friday night the Lakers looked to come out strong and put Thursday night’s game behind them. Notre Dame was able to take the lead just before the end of the first period with Christian Hanson tallying a shorthanded goal at 19:19 of the first period, and added to their lead with a power play goal by Kyle Lawson at 4:54 of the second period. LSSU’s Nathan Perkovich was able to score his 5 goal in 6 games at 116:24 of the second period on the power play with Matt Cowie and Troy Schwab getting the assists on the goal. Notre Dame was able to hold LSSU off the score board the rest of the game while adding two additional goals in the third period including one on the power play. LSSU freshman Brian Mahoney-Wilson recorded 32 saves on 36 shots in a losing effort, while Notre Dame’s Brad Phillips recorded 16 saves on 17 Laker shots. LSSU went 1-for-7 on the power play (2-for-11 on the weekend), while ND scored twice on five opportunities going 5-for-10 on the weekend). Next weekend LSSU travels to Detroit, Michigan to take on Wayne State in the last ever meeting between the two schools, Wayne State’s hockey team will cease operations at the end of this season. LSSU has an all time record of 4-2-0 against the Warriors including a sweep last season in the Soo.