BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - For the second-straight night, the Lake Superior State Lakers picked up a 1-1 tie against Western Collegiate Hockey Association rivals Bowling Green on the road. With the tie, the Lakers (2-6-2, 0-2-2 WCHA) and Falcons (4-2-3, 1-1-2 WCHA) come away with an 46-year old series record of 77-69-12 in favor of BGSU.
The Lakers now hold a 4-2-2 series lead since both teams left the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and joined the WCHA.
Once again, Gordon Defiel and Chris Nell were tasked with the duties between the pipes for their respective teams. Defiel (1-4-2) made 28 saves for the Lakers; while his counterpart, Nell (2-1-3), turned aside 26.
"I thought we played like men," said head coach Damon Whitten to Laker Hockey play-by-play announcer Bill Crawford following the game. "Really proud of the effort, up and down the lineup.
"This is a tough place to play a hockey game and a tough team to play against. They're a physical team and I thought we matched that," continued Whitten. "Gordie Defiel had a heck of a weekend and it's great to have him back playing the way we know he can."
Pierre-Luc Mercier opened the scoring for the Falcons on the power play 12:38 into the second period. Mitch McLain and Sean Walker assisted on the tally to put BGSU up 1-0.
Moments later, following a missed opportunity on the power play, the Lakers cashed in on their fourth attempt of the game.
Senior Zach Loesch (1-0--1) scored his first career goal as a Laker with a shot from the high slot that found its way past Nell. The tally, Loesch's 10th career point in his 91st career game, was helped by Jake Hand (0-4--4) and James Roll (0-2--2).
"A big time goal by Zach," recalled Whitten, regarding Loesch's first career tally. "We're really happy for him and he's really stuck with it."
The teams skated through the first 40 minutes the same way as the series' first game, tied 1-1. BGSU logged 21 shots through the first two periods, while the Lakers tallied 16.
For the second consecutive evening the teams went through the final 20 minutes of regulation scoreless and into an overtime period. The Falcons led 28-21 in the shot column following regulation.
LSSU converted one of four power-play attempts, while BGSU finished the game 1-5.
The game marked the third time in the previous four games that the Lakers and their opponents needed five-extra minutes to decide the outcome. The Lakers played four overtime games in all of 2014-15, going 2-0-2 in those games. This season the Lakers are 0-1-2 in three overtime-decided games.
With the tie, the Lakers move into a tie with Alaska for eighth place in the WCHA standings. Alaska hosts Northern Michigan later tonight.
The Lakers return home next weekend to host the upstart Arizona State Sun Devils Nov. 13-14. During Friday night's game, set to begin at 7:07 p.m., the Lakers will celebrate Veteran's night and offer free admission for all active and retired military personnel, as well as special discounts for their families.