SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Lake Superior State hockey fell to Alaska Anchorage 3-1 in Saturday evening's Western Collegiate Hockey Association weekend series finale. The loss gives the Lakers a 9-13-4 overall record and keeps them in 7th place of the WCHA standings with a 6-6-4 record in conference play.
Owen Headrick scored the only goal for the Lakers 2:14 after the opening puck drop. The unassisted tally was the freshman's fourth goal of the season and gave the Lakers the early 1-0 lead.
With the goal Headrick tied Kurt Gosselin from Alabama-Huntsville with the most points by a freshman defenseman on the season and gives the Garden River, Ont. native the most goals among the WCHA's freshmen defenders.
Despite a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal for LSSU during the first period the Seawolves (9-10-3, 6-8-2 WCHA) eventually tied the game at 1-1 with 5:42 remaining in the first period.
Connor Wright scored the tying goal with assists coming from Austin Azurdia and Chase Van Allen.
With the score tied after the first period of play the Seawolves came out of the intermission and took a 2-1 lead just 2:05 into the middle period on a goal by Anthony Conti. Sean MacTavish and Jeremiah Luedtke added the assists on the go-ahead goal.
Six penalties were called during the second period, with four against the Seawolves and two against the Lakers, but the score remained 2-1 heading into the final break.
LSSU had 13 shots during the third period and a number of opportunities to score the tying goal but were unable to get anything past starting goaltender Olivier Mantha during the last 20 minutes.
Mantha made 34 saves in earning his eighth victory of the year, while Nick Kossoff (3-5-1) made 19 saves and allowed three goals in the loss.
With the game winding down an errant pass by the Lakers defense was intercepted in the neutral zone by Blake Tatchell. Tatchell flipped a pass to Azurdia to set up a 2-on-1 opportunity and as Azurdia tried to center a pass back to his teammate a Laker stick redirected the puck through the legs of Kossoff and made the score 3-1.
The goal marked Azurdia's second point of the night and secured the weekend split.
UAA moved into a tie for 8th place with in-state rival Alaska following the victory. Both teams sit two points behind the Lakers in the WCHA standings.
The Lakers travel to Mankato, Minn. to face the Minnesota State Mavericks next weekend, Jan. 22-23. The Mavericks hold the top spot in the WCHA standings following a tie and a loss at Michigan Tech this weekend.
