SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey program defeated the Nipissing Lakers in dominant fashion by a final score of 6-1 on Sunday.
Lake State set the tone early as junior forward Harrison Roy (Lakeville, Mass.) opened the game by slotting an unassisted shot in the back of the net 18 seconds into the contest. Roy would go on to earn another point a few minutes later as he found Logan Jenuwine (Romeo, Mich.) as the senior gave his team an early 2-0 advantage. Two minutes later, at the 5:14 mark, fifth-year Western Michigan transfer Jared Kucharek (Royal Oak, Mich.) secured his first point since the 2019-20 season as he found his captain, Louis Boudon (Grenoble, France), but the early onslaught would not end there. Junior defenseman Jacob Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) found sophomore Timo Bakos (Augsburg, Germany) for the fourth Lake State goal within the opening eight minutes of play. Nippissing was able to get on the board at the 16:33 mark, but Lake Superior State held an impressive 4-1 lead after the opening period.
The Lake Superior State attack pressed onward in the second period as Jenuwine passed the puck ahead to sophomore Dawson Tritt (Spokane, Wash.) who flipped it to sophomore forward Brett Roloson (Worcester, Mass.) for the one-timer, but that would not be the final time Jenuwine and Tritt combined for a pair of assists as the duo shuffled the puck to Bakos as the German cashed in the power play opportunity for his second goal in the afternoon to put his team up 6-1.
The third period may have been scoreless, but it was not for a lack of effort. The Nipissing goaltender would go on to have multiple strong saves, but his work would be in vain as the Lake State defense also held strong to keep the final score at 6-1.
Junior goaltender Ethan Langenegger (Kamloops, B.C.) picked up the win after 20 minutes of action, and Easton Hesse (Beaumont, Alb.) fended off all 16 shots he faced after coming in for the second and third periods.
The Lake Superior State hockey program will wrap up their early season exhibition slate on Friday, Oct. 7 when they travel to Plymouth, Mich. to face the USNTDP U-18 Team for one final tune-up with the first puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. They will then officially open the regular season on Friday, Oct. 14 against the Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha.