SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey team's comeback late in the third period fell just short as the Lakers dropped a 5-4 decision to the Bemidji State Beavers on Friday, Nov. 12 at the Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. in the first game of a Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) weekend series. With the loss, the Lakers fall to 7-5-1 this season and 3-1-0 in CCHA competition.
Sophomore forward Benito Posa scored his first career hat trick for the Lakers while Louis Boudon scored the fourth goal of the game. Laker goaltender Seth Eisele stopped 24 saves in the game for the Lakers.
After the first twenty minutes of play, the Beavers held a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of power play goals. Senior forward Alex Ierullo scored the game's first goal at 6:18 of the first period and Owen Sillinger doubled Bemidji's lead at 12:04 of the period.
The Lakers came back in the second period to tie the game at two as sophomore forward Benito Posa scored both goals. At 4:42 of the second period, Posa tallied his first goal of the season as he was set up on the play by freshman forward Cole Craft and senior defenseman Jacob Nordqvist.
Later in the second period, Posa notched his second goal of the game as the sophomore forward recorded his first career multi-goal game. With the Lakers in the offensive zone on the power play, Boudon circled around the back of the net with the puck before connecting a pass to sophomore defenseman Jacob Bengtsson at the blue line. Bengtsson fired a shot on goal and Posa capitalized on the rebound to tie the game at two.
Before the second period came to a close, Bemidji State would regain the game's two-goal lead. Lukas Sillinger scored at 13:17 of the period to give the Beavers a 3-2 lead and Tyler Kirkup followed with a goal at 18:07 to give his team a 4-2 lead at the close of 40 minutes.
Owen Sillinger scored his second goal of the game at 17:51 of the third period, which would hold up as the game winning goal against the Lakers.
Despite the three goal deficit, the Lakers showed no quit in the final minutes of the game as the team scored a pair of goals in the last 1:33 in regulation. At 18:27 of the third period, Louis Boudon would score his seventh goal of the season to pull within two goals of the Beavers (5-3). Boudon's goal was assisted by Bengtsson and Miroslav Mucha.
With just over 30 seconds left to play, Posa completed his first collegiate hat trick with his third goal of the night. Posa's goal was assisted by Craft and Boudon.
The Lakers spent the final thirty seconds pushing to score the game tying goal, coming down to the final faceoff of the night with less than three seconds on the clock but ran out of time.
Eisele finished the game with 24 saves on 29 shots from the Beavers while Bemidji State's goaltender Gavin Enright stopped 20 shots by the Lakers in the win.
The Lakers and Beavers will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m.in the Taffy Abel Arena. 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.
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