Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.— After a, 3-1, victory on Friday evening, the Lake Superior State hockey team could not contain the Alabama Huntsville offense on Saturday as they fell ,5-3, to split its two-game weekend Western Collegiate Hockey Association road trip.
With the loss, the Lakers slip to 3-7-3 overall with a 2-3-3 record in the WCHA. The Chargers move to 4-7-1, 3-2-1.
Lakes State dug themselves a hole early on surrendering three goals in the first period of play.
"You're not going to win any hockey games when you give up five goals," said Lake Superior coach Damon Whitten. "We need some better effort as far team-play defensively. We go down (3-0) in the first period that's tough to come back from."
Sophomore forward Braden Gelsinger initiated the comeback attempt with a goal in the final seconds of the first period and Josh Nenadal shrunk the deficit to, 2-3, with a goal 7:19 into the second period.
UAH responded immediately with two goals within two minutes of play to rebuild their lead, 5-2, at 9:45 mark in the second.
Sophomore Max Humitz connected on his seventh goal of the season in the 11th minute in the second but Lakers couldn't find any more offense as the Chargers held on for the win.
Coming off a 27 save performance in Friday's win, junior net minder Nick Kossoff struggled in his second consecutive start. Kossoff allowed five goals in 18 shots faced before being relieved by Mareks Mitens in the third.
Recording assists for Lake Superior were J.T. Henke (15), Diego Cuglietta (5), Gelsinger (6), Kyle Chatham (3) and Anthony Nellis (3).
Christian Rajic recorded the hat trick for the Chargers three goals in two periods. Brennan Saulnier and Kurt Gosselin also scored for UAH.
Lake Superior was aggressor on offense holding a, 44-34, shot advantage and won the faceoff battle, 43-33. LSSU was 1-of-6 on the power play, UAH was 1-for-3.
The Lakers return Taffy Abel, Saturday Nov.25, at 5 p.m. for the first-annual "Thanksgiving Family Feast" promotion as they take on the USA Hockey 18 & Under National Team in an exhibition.
As a special walk up promotion, any purchase of one general admission ticket gets the whole family in for free (no family member limit). For additional information visit lssulakers.com/tickets or call 906-635-2602