SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – In come-from-behind fashion Lake Superior State hockey defeated Alaska Anchorage, 4-2, in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series opener on Saturday night. With the victory, and a loss by Alaska against Northern Michigan on Saturday night, the Lakers (9-12-4, 6-5-4 WCHA) moved into sole possession of 7th place in the WCHA standings.
Freshman forward Mitch Hults (6-6—12) scored a pair of goals in the contest including the empty-net goal to seal the 4-2 victory.
The Lakers found themselves trailing 1-0 after the first period of play. Jeremiah Luedtke opened the scoring for the Seawolves (8-10-3, 5-8-3 WCHA) 7:44 into the contest after Anthony Conti intercepted the puck in the defensive zone and sprung Luedtke. Luedtke was able to pick the corner over Gordon Defiel's shoulder to score his second-career goal.
LSSU responded with a goal 43 seconds into the 2nd period when Hults received a pass from behind the net by Alex Globke (4-3--7), wheeled out to the faceoff circle, and wristed a shot over Olivier Mantha's goal.
Hults' first goal of the night brought the score even at 1-1.
With 7:35 remaining in the middle period, Tad Kozun scored a power-play goal to put Anchorage up 2-1. Matt Anholt and Jarrett Brown added assists on the tally by Kozun.
With only five shots during the second period and 13 total, the Lakers trailed the Seawolves 21-13 in the shot column and 2-1 on the scoreboard after two periods of play.
Josh Nenadal (4-1—5) wasted little time in tying the game at 2-2, firing a puck past Mantha 4:40 into the final period. Nenadal's goal was assisted by Austin McKay (1-2—3).
With neither team trying to give an inch, both sides skated through nearly six and a half minutes of grind-it-out hockey that featured a two-minute span of four-on-four play.
With 8:48 left in regulation and the score tied Brown, who assisted on the goal by Kozun, was whistled for a costly five-minute major penalty after checking the Lakers' C.J. Hayes into the boards from behind. The Lakers received an extended penalty and Brown was shown the door with a game misconduct.
After not finding any success and regrouping behind their own net multiple times during the penalty, Diego Cuglietta (4-4—8) finally found the net for the Lakers with nine seconds left on the penalty time Brown.
The power-play goal by Cuglietta, the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Week, put the Lakers up 3-2 and would hold up as the game-winning goal. It was the third career game-winning goal for the freshman and his second-consecutive game winner.
Freshmen Anthony Nellis (3-8—11) and Owen Headrick (3-5—8) added the assists to Cuglietta's goal.
As time was winding down, UAA pulled Mantha in favor of the extra attacker with 44 seconds remaining.
With the Seawolves in their own zone and looking for an outlet pass, Hults intercepted a pass and took the puck unassisted for the empty-net tally.
Defiel made 26 saves and was sharp for the Lakers in picking up his sixth victory of the season.
For the Seawolves, Mantha also made 26 saves but was tagged with three goals in his ninth loss of the season.
The teams cap the series with a 5:07 p.m. matinee game on Sunday evening.
