Lakers tie nationally-ranked Minnesota-Duluth
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Lake Superior State tied No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth, 6-6, during Friday's official hockey season opener and the first game of the fourth annual Superior Cup. The Lakers started their scoring at the 29-second mark of the first period.
Senior captain Rick Schofield (2-2—4) scored LSSU’s first goal from Will Acton (0-2—2) and Domenic Monardo (1-2—3) just after the opening faceoff. UM-D came back to tie the game, 1-1, with a power-play goal, at 4:36 of the first. LSSU took the 2-1 lead with a power-play goal from Zach Trotman (1-0—1), assisted by Ben Power (1-1—2) and Nick McParland (0-2—2) at 11:04 of the first. Forty-six seconds later, UM-D tied the game at two to end the first period.
After falling behind 3-2 on a short-handed goal by the Bulldogs, the Lakers tied the game 3-3 on Monardo's power-play goal. Kyle Haines (0-1—1) and Schofield notched the assists. LSSU took the lead, 4-3, at 13:29 of the second period with Power scoring on assists by McParland and Dan Barczuk (0-1—1). The Bulldogs came back to tie the game, 4-4, with their second power-play goal.
The Lakers started the third period off strong with a power-play goal from Matt Cowie (1-0—1), assisted by Schofield and Acton. UM-D tied the game, 5-5, at 12:07. A minute and a half later, Schofield netted the Lakers' sixth goal from Monardo. At 17:40 of the third period, UM-D tied the game, 6-6.
Laker netminder Brian Mahoney-Wilson played 65 minutes and faced 38 shots, making 32 saves for the night. The Bulldogs' goalie, Kenny Reiter, faced 37 LSSU shots, stopping 31.
Minnesota-Duluth's offense was led by Justin Fontaine, who matched Schofield with two goals and two assists. His line, which included Jack Connolly and Mike Connolly, scored four goals, including the short-handed marker.
The LSSU was 4-of-9 on the power-play and held UM-D to 2-for-8.
The Lakers (0-0-1) will be back in action at 7:05 p.m. Saturday against Michigan Tech. The Huskies edged Northern Michigan 4-3 in overtime during the other Superior Cup showdown. LSSU is now 2-3-2 all-time in the Superior Cup tournament.
