SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey team earned a weekend sweep over Union College after posting a 5-2 victory on Saturday, Oct. 23 in a nonconference game at the Taffy Abel Arena. With the win, the Lakers overall record improves to 5-3-0 this season.
Freshman forward Timo Bakos led the Lakers to the victory with his first career hat trick while Jacob Nordqvist and Josh Nixon netted the other two Laker goals. LSSU netminder Seth Eisele made 21 saves against Union in the win.
Union took the lead less than a minute into the game as freshman forward Michael Hodge scored at the 47 second mark of the first period. The goal came following an offensive zone faceoff win by Liam Robertson, and Andrew Seaman connected the puck with Hodge, who was just outside the crease as he got the puck past Eisele for a 1-0 Union lead.
With just over eight minutes left in the period, the Lakers came close to evening the score when Dustin Manz had a great scoring chance that was stopped by Union goaltender Connor Murphy. Later in the opening frame, Union nearly capitalized on a two-on-one and the Lakers recovered the puck, leading to a shot by Jake Willets that rang off the crossbar. Despite a breakaway in the final three minutes of the period by Manz, the first period would end with Union leading the Lakers 1-0.
Early in the second period, the Dutchmen had a five-on-three power play opportunity for nearly a minute. The Laker penalty killers would successfully kill off the first minor and connected a pass to Manz as he exited the box. Manz' breakaway was stopped by Murphy to keep the Union lead. Before the second penalty expired, the Dutchmen took a 2-0 lead when Tyler Watkins scored his first career goal.
The Lakers had a number of strong chances in the second period including an odd man rush started by Harrison Roy that was just wide of the net by Artyom Borsyhov. At 7:078 of the middle period, the Lakers got on the board when Jacob Nordqvist scored a goal in a scrum in front of Murphy. With a Union penalty ending just seconds before the goal was scored, the Lakers had possession of the offensive zone. Josh Nixon and Miroslav Mucha registered the assists on the goal.
At 18:06 of the second period, Bakos tied the game when he scored his first goal of the game when he netted a power play goal. Bakos' goal was assisted by Nixon and Nordqvist.
In the third period, the Lakers took the lead for the first time in the game when Bakos scored his second goal of the game, which would prove to be the eventual game winner. The power play goal was set up by Nixon and Mucha at 12:58 of the third period to break the tie game. Mucha, who was playing the point on the power play, slid a pass to Nixon who was situated along the goal line. Nixon slid a pass to Bakos, who was just outside the crease and the German-born forward tapped the puck into the open net.
In the final two minutes of play, the Lakers netted a pair of empty net goals to clinch the win. Nixon, who had an excellent game for the Lakers, scored his first career goal at 18:02 of the period. Bakos secured the hat trick when he netted his third goal of the game at 19:37 of the period. Brett Roloson and Artyom Boryshov recorded the assists on the first empty net goal while Louis Boudon and Mucha earned the helpers on the final goal of the game.
The Laker power play, which went two-for-six in the game, has now scored one or more power play goals in five consecutive games.
Eisele stopped 21 saves in his third win of the season while Murphy made 24 saves for the Dutchmen.
Lake Superior State will be on home ice again next weekend as the Lakers host the St. Lawrence Saints for a non-conference weekend series at Taffy Abel Arena. The opening game against the ECAC team will be played at 7:07 on Friday, Oct. 29 while the series will conclude on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a 6:07 p.m. puck drop. The game will be available to stream on FloHockey. Fans can tune in to listen to Bill Crawford and Matt Pocket on the radio call on 99.5 YES FM.
For more information, visit lssulakers.com.
Follow Laker Hockey on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the latest news!