BIG RAPIDS, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey team earned a 5-0 victory over the Ferris State Bulldogs on Friday, Feb. 28 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) series in Big Rapids, Mich.
Senior forward Brayden Gelsinger got the Lakers on the board as he scored the game's first goal at 9:26 of the first period. Ashton Calder would tally the lone assist on the play as he skated into the zone with the puck and would drop a pass to Gelsinger who was following up on the play. Gelsinger held onto the puck, forcing Bulldogs goalie Roni Salmenkangas to make the first move. With Salmenkangas down on the play, Gelsinger would score his third goal of the season to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead, which would hold as the eventual game winner.
At 19:42 of the first period, the Lakers took a 2-0 lead when Calder scored off a rush up the ice. Jacob Nordqvist chipped the puck out of the Lakers defensive zone to feed Calder, who would beat the Bulldog defenders to skate in alone on Salmenkangas and get off a wrist shot that would give the Lakers a 2-0 advantage.
The Lakers line of Calder, Gelsinger and Hampus Eriksson would create the opportunity leading up to the Lakers third goal, which was scored by defenseman Will Riedell. Gelsinger would connect a pass to Calder, who carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before passing the puck to Eriksson. With the Lakers on an odd man rush, Eriksson fed a cross ice pass to Riedell who fired a quick shot over the pad of the Ferris netminder for a 3-0 Laker lead.
With the assist, Calder posted his second three point game of the season and the third of his career, with all coming against Ferris State.
While on a four-on-three penalty kill, the Lakers were able to clear the zone when Nordqvist won a battle along the boards to get the puck to Eriksson. Eriksson and Brendan McKay skated in on a two-on-one while shorthanded. McKay would net his career-best fourth goal of the season and his fourth goal in the month of February to give the Lakers a 4-0 lead.
The Lakers capped off the scoring in the game at 14:13 of the third period as Pete Veillette tallied his 11th goal of the season. Veillette redirected the puck past Salmenkangas on a cross ice feed from Louis Boudon to make it a 5-0 game.
Mareks Mitens finished the game with a 21 save shutout to mark his second shutout of the season as well as his career best 12th win of the season. Salmenkangas finished the game with 20 saves on the 25 shots he faced from the Lakers.
The Lakers will close out their season series against the Bulldogs tomorrow night with the game set for a 6:07 p.m. start at the Ewigleben ice Arena in Big Rapids, Mich.
Following this weekend's series, the Lakers will compete in the WCHA Playoffs for the second consecutive season. Locked into the seventh spot, the Lakers will be the lower seed in the series but their opponent has yet to be determined.
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