SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey program (0-4-1) fell to the Clarkson Golden Knights (2-4-0) in overtime after an improbable comeback on Friday.
The Lakers were able to strike early on the power play as senior captain Louis Boudon (Grenoble, France) opened up the scoring at the 6:39 mark off of assists from Brandon Puricelli (Ellisville, Mo.) and alternate captain Jack Jeffers (Oakville, Ont.). However, the Golden Knights quickly responded just over thirty seconds of game time later with Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup managing to push the puck just past Seth Eisele (Lake Elmo, Minn.).
Both teams were able to fend off several chances with each goaltender making one strong save after another. However, midway through the second period, Schmidt-Svejstrup scored his second goal of the contest after narrowly squeezing the puck past the glove of Eisele. Clarkson would tack on one more at the 7:46 mark in the third period as Mattieu Gosselin extended Clarkson's lead to 3-0.
The Lakers' chances appeared to be bleak late in the third period, but they kept fighting to give themselves a chance. Then, their opportunity presented itself. Clarkson would find themselves a man down after a holding penalty, and the Lakers seized their chance at an advantage, pulling their goalie in favor of playing six on four. Their gamble paid off in the form of Puricelli finding the back of the net after being set up by freshman Connor Milburn (Kamloops, B.C.) and junior defenseman Jacob Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden), but they still had more work to do. It would not be long before Eisele was once again pulled for an extra attacker, and with 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock, Milburn proved to be the hero, knotting up the game and forcing overtime after Puricelli passed him the puck after a shot from Jared Kucharek (Royal Oak, Mich.) deflected off of the pads of the Clarkson goaltender and scoring the Lakers' second goal with their net left unguarded.
However, shortly into the overtime period, Clarkson was able to capitalize off of a Lake State penalty to score the game-winner on the power play, breaking the hearts of the Laker faithful.
Despite the loss, Puricelli had an impressive three-point outing after being involved in every Laker goal, and Milburn also finished with multiple points, the first of his collegiate career.
The Lakers will be looking to split the series on Saturday in the second game against Clarkson with the first puck drop scheduled for 6:07 p.m.